The Khalifa of the district had sent his brother, Omar bin Amer el-Ayari, from a great distance to receive and entertain us. Without such hospitality it is extremely difficult for a traveller to encamp amongst ancient ruins in this country; they are usually shunned by the people, and no supplies are procurable within a radius of several miles. We also received a visit from Si Mohammed Esh-Shabi, Kaid of a fraction of the Drid tribe, who was encamped not far off; he was a really grand specimen of the Arab patriarch. He took quite an intelligent interest in the object of my journey, and was delighted with the extracts I translated to him from Bruce’s Diary. There is a considerable divergence between Bruce’s route and mine at this point; he came from Kef by Zouarin. I extract all that he says regarding his journey:—
From Dougga I continued the upper road to Keff, formerly called Sicca Venerea, or Venerea ad Siccam, through the pleasant plains inhabited by the Welled Yagoube. At Keff there were no antiquities but the inscriptions, and part of the frieze of the temple of Hercules carved upon white marble; it probably was situated on the very spot where we found this, as the columns standing were perpendicular and equidistant, and in just proportion from the gate.
A portion of this frieze is in the Kinnaird collection; the following is the inscription, as recorded by Bruce:—
HERCVLI . SACRVM
M . TVTICIVS . PROCVLVS . PROCVRATOR . AVGVSTI
SVA . PECVNIA . FECIT.
Several other inscriptions were copied by Bruce. Some have since been published by Guérin and others. The following appears to have escaped the observation of subsequent travellers:—
. . . . . . . . . . .
POT . . . . . . . . .
FILIO . DOMINI . NOSTRI