93 M. Sidi Bou-Rouis, on the Oued Tessa (p. [357]), which here forms a wide bend to the E. round Jebel Maïza (2920 ft.). To the left rises the chain of Jebel Massouge (3019 ft.). 103 M. Le Sers, on the N. margin of the broad dale of that name (Arabic Bled es-Sers), one of the most fertile inland districts in Tunisia.
106 M. Les Salines (Rail. Restaurant), junction for Kalaâ-Djerda (see p. [361]), lies on the highroad from Le Kef to Souk et-Tléta and on a rough road to (19 M.) Maktar.
Maktar (3117 ft.; inn), the Maktarium of the Libyans and the Ælia Aurelia Augusta Mactaris of the Romans, to the W. of the richly wooded Hammada Kessera, is now a small village of ‘colonists’ with a fortified bordj (Contrôle Civil; containing an epigraphical collection), and is the administrative centre for the district of the Ouled Aoun and Ouled Ayar. Extensive orchards and Sunday market. Among the antiquities are numerous dolmens, Roman ruins (arch of Trajan of 116 A.D., mausolea, an aqueduct, etc.), and an early-Christian basilica.
The train next ascends to the N.W., between Jebel Maïza, on the right, and Jebel Lorbeus (2641 ft.), on the left, and crosses the Oued Lorbeus, up whose valley once lay the Roman Lares, later Lorbeus, a small town destroyed in 1048 by the Hilalides (p. [323]).—118 M. Zafran, on the spurs of Jebel Zafran. Traversing the bleak mountain plain of Bled Zafran we soon have a fine view of Le Kef and the barren Dyr el-Kef (p. [357]).
125½ M. Le Kef (2477 ft.; Hôt. Dalban, Milano, etc., very plain; pop. 7000, incl. 1400 Europeans, 900 of them Italians), superbly situated near an abrupt rocky slope, the S.W. spur of Dyr el-Kef, was down to modern times the chief town in W. Tunisia. In its earliest period it was famed for its temple of Astarte. After the first Punic war the discontented mercenaries (p. [332]) were banished hither. Under Augustus the town became a Roman colony named Sicca, with the cognomen of Veneria derived from its temple of Venus. Under the later Roman empire it was of great strategic importance, lying at the junction of the roads to Thacia (p. [357]), Theveste (Tebessa), Thagaste (p. [313]), and Simitthu (p. [326]); by the Arabs it was even regarded as the key of Algeria. During the Turkish period fierce battles were fought under its walls (in 1694, 1705, and 1807) between the beys of Tunisia and Algeria, and during the French advance in 1881 Le Kef was hardly a less important objective than Tunis itself. Since then the mosques have been open to visitors (tickets at the Contrôle Civil).
From the station (omnibus) we ascend through the new European quarter, with its red-tiled roofs, to (20 min.) the Boulevard de Tunis, once the rampart on the N.W. side of the town, where we have an extensive view. The only Roman ruins are the basin of Aïn el-Kef and the Thermae at the W. angle of the old town.
The old town, still enclosed on three sides by the mouldering Turkish wall, consists of narrow and irregular streets built partly out of Roman and Byzantine ruins. The old Dâr el-Bey is now the Hôtel de Ville. The Chief Mosque (Djamâa el-Kebîra) is built into the ruins of an early-Christian basilica (?).
The early-Christian *Church of St. Peter (Arabic Dâr el-Kuss) was a small columnar basilica of the early 5th cent, with nave and aisles (23 by 10½ yds.); but the narthex (vestibule, now used as a church) and the fine choir-recess have alone been left standing. Many Roman sculptures, mostly from a temple, have been built into the walls of the aisles, which were originally vaulted. The nave, which once had a timber roof, retains relics of its old mosaic pavement.
The zaouïa of Sidi Kaddour el-Mizouni, one of the three largest Tunisian establishments of the widely diffused Mohammedan brotherhood of the Kadria (p. [183]), enjoys a high reputation. The zaouïa of Sidi Salah ben-Aïssa, belonging to the Rahmania, contains a fine modern cenotaph of the saint.
Steep lanes and passages in steps connect the old town with the Turkish Kasba (now barracks).