The picturesque route to Tabarca (45 M.; motor-omnibus or diligence) leads to the N. from Béja, past the zinc-mines of Jebel Charra (1414 ft.), and through the now treeless valleys of the Oued Béja (Oued Djorfane in its upper course) and the Oued Sersar. It next passes the richest calamine or zinc-ore mines in Tunisia (Jebel Damous, Aïn-Roumi, Jebel Sidi Ahmed) and leads through the grand ravine of Khanguet Kef Tout into the valley of the Oued Maden. 25 M. Djebel-Abiod (Hôt. des Nefzas, quite good), a village in the Nefza Mts., famed for their cork-tree woods, their abundant game, and their great deposits of hæmatite. (Railway from Mateur to Djebel-Abiod, see p. [352]; thence to Tabarca under construction.) We now drive to the W., between Jebel Kherouf (2035 ft.) on the left and a chain of *Dunes (650 ft.) on the right, to Râs er-Radjel, and cross the Oued el-Kébir to (45 M.) Tabarca (p. [327]).
From Pont-de-Trajan to Teboursouk (Dougga), see p. [355].
The Medjerda, in its sinuous course, then forces its way through the bare hill-country below Pont-de-Trajan. For a short distance the train runs to the N.E. into the side-valley of the Oued Zarga, stopping at (100½ M.) Oued-Zarga (322 ft.), and then returns to the E., through hilly country, and below Toukabeur and Chaouach (see below), into the valley of the Medjerda.
113 M. Medjez el-Bab (197 ft.; Hôt. des Colons; omn. to the diligence office 30 c.), a considerable village on the right bank of the Medjerda, 1¼ M. to the S. of the station, was formerly Membressa, a busy place on the Roman road from Carthage to Tebessa (p. [315]). The eight-arched Medjerda Bridge was built in the 18th cent. with the materials of the Roman bridge; and the Roman Triumphal Arch, to which the village owes its name (‘ford by the gateway’), has lately been almost entirely demolished for a similar purpose. Important corn-market on Mondays.
On the slope of Jebel Chaouach (1778 ft.), some 5½ M. to the N.W. of Medjez el-Bab, lies Chaouach (1480 ft.), with the ruins of the small Roman town of Sua (triumphal arch, nymphæum, town-wall, etc.). About 1¼ M. to the W. of Chaouach are the ruins of Toukabeur (1221 ft.), the Roman Thuccabor, with its ancient cisterns, gateways, temple, etc.
From Medjez el-Bab to Teboursouk and Dougga (Le Kef), see R. 55.
The train now proceeds, generally somewhat apart from the tortuous stream, at the foot of bare hills (Jebel Heïdous, Jebel Lansarine, etc.), to (119 M.) El-Heri and (122½ M.) Bordj Toum.
133 M. Tebourba (133 ft.; Hôt. Cafort, R. 2, B. ½, D. 2½, pens. 6 fr.; pop. 2000) is pleasantly situated among olive-groves. On a height (164 ft.) crowned with the kubba of Sidi Ras-Allah, between the village and the Medjerda, are the scanty ruins of the Roman town of Thuburbo Minus. About ½ hr. to the S. of Tebourba lies the dam or *Bridge of El-Bathan, originally Roman, but restored to form a reservoir for watering the olive-trees. Adjacent are a small manufactory of chechias (a kind of fez) and barracks. Near Tebourba are large quarries of gypsum.