BVRE
S PRO COS PP
VM PVBLICARVM
The principal water-supply of Teboursouk is derived from a very fine spring, which issues from a small chamber and flows into a large square reservoir, both of Roman work. The overflow runs through a subterranean passage, and waters the gardens to the north of the town. On the lintel of the door of the chamber from which the water flows may be traced a few letters, which Guérin gives as VG. ARA. They are hardly legible now, but the entire inscription is recorded by Peyssonnel:—
NEPTVNO . AVG. SACR. PRO . SALVTE . IMP. CAESARVM.
L. S. H. TIMIS.[206]
On the summit of the hill above the town is a koubba, from which a very fine view is obtained.
From Teboursouk we made an excursion to Dougga, دُقّة, the ancient Thugga, Cives Thuggenses, or, as it is given in one inscription in the wall of a house near the temple, Respublica Coloniae Liciniae Septimiae Aureliae Alexandrinae Thuggensium.
This city must have been of very considerable consequence, to judge by the extent and magnificence of its remains, which cover an area of about three square miles; and when its temples and palaces were standing, and clear of the cactus and brambles that now invade their remains, it must have been a most striking object in the landscape. The city was built high up on the hill, which bounds on the west the extensive valley watered by the Oued Khallad, a tributary of the Medjerda. A wretched modern hamlet is built amongst its ruins, and the traveller has to wade through the accumulated filth of years to visit the various objects of interest which the village contains. This, however, occupies but a small extent of the ancient city; the remainder is overgrown with cactus and briars, or laid out in delightful groves of olive-trees.
Plate XXII.