The natives have fine sheep, with remarkably white wool; they use it in making very handsome wrappers, which are woven by the women. They have also some horned cattle, though fewer than the roving tribes, excellent horses, some asses, and many good mules. The horses are for the most part the property of the Berbers, who are very numerously established in Tafilet, but less addicted to pillage than those of el-Drah, and indeed formidable to strangers alone.
This country is in general very agreeable: its inhabitants carry on a considerable commerce with the Soudan and el-Arawan, whither they export tobacco in leaves of their own growing, together with European commodities; and receive in exchange gold, ivory, gum, ostrich-feathers, dried provisions, and slaves; for, unhappily, the infamous traffic in the latter exists in full vigour in this part of Africa. The commodities which the merchants dispatch to Timbuctoo, through the medium of the roving Moors of el-Harib, who may be considered as the carriers of the Soudan, are transported on camels to the confines of the desert by the Berbers, who deliver them to the Moors engaged to convey them to their destination. The Berbers receive a tribute for this service, a species of indemnity given to them by agreement, since they do not, like the Arabs, extend their travels through all the negro countries. If the merchants were to neglect this prudent precaution, their caravans would be pillaged by these barbarians, as they sometimes are by the Touariks. I have already said that the most distinguished Moors of Tafilet usually settle at Timbuctoo, in the hope of making a fortune, as amongst us Europe is left for the new world: these Moors, after devoting five or six years to commerce, purchase gold and slaves, and return to live peaceably in their own country.
The soil of Tafilet is very good, and produces all the necessaries of life. The numberless date-trees surrounding each property furnish their owners with a plentiful subsistence and a considerable branch of commerce. They sell a quantity of dates in all the dependencies of Morocco, and especially in the towns situated on the sea-coast.
The population of this district is divided into several classes, and the distinction of social ranks is rigorously observed. Labourers by the day or month are considered as belonging to the lowest grade; those who esteem themselves of a higher order treat them as a very inferior race of beings. There are also in Tafilet many negro slaves, and some emancipated negroes, who, however, are never suffered to intermarry with the Moors; even the children born of a negress and a Moor, by a clandestine union, have no acknowledged condition in the country, and can never emerge from the lowest classes.
The inhabitants of Tafilet tan a great quantity of leather; they make excellent morocco, which is much esteemed in commerce, and finds at Fez a ready market. The people of this country are more industrious than I have any where remarked, in the different parts of Africa which I have visited.
Every one brings to the market the fruit of his labour; there may be seen in abundance woollen wrappers, coussabes, tanned leather, pagnes, shoes, mats, wooden trenchers, in short all the manufactures of the country.
Each proprietor is accustomed to enclose his lands either with an earth wall or a ditch; all the villages are walled, and those I have seen have but one gate of entrance, which is shut every evening. The inhabitants rear much poultry, as large as ours, and eat the eggs boiled. They have pigeons, but these birds are scarce. Some individuals keep a dog and a cat, which live upon dates.
Throughout the districts of el-Drah and Tafilet are found Jews, who inhabit the same villages with the Musulmans; they are in a pitiable condition, wandering about almost naked, and continually insulted by the Moors; these fanatics even beat them shamefully, and throw stones at them as at dogs: the smallest children may abuse them with impunity, since they dare not revenge themselves, and cannot expect protection from authority. I have frequently been so excited myself as to threaten these little revilers with severe chastisement.
The Jews of Tafilet are excessively dirty, and always go barefoot, perhaps to avoid the inconvenience of frequently taking off their sandals, which they are compelled to do in passing before a mosque or the door of a sherif. They are clothed in a shabby coussabe, and a very dirty white cloak, of little more value, which passes under the left arm, and is fastened over the right shoulder. They shave their heads after the example of the Moors, but leave a tuft of hair which falls over the forehead. Some are pedlars, others artizans; they manufacture shoes and mats from palm-leaves; some of them also are blacksmiths. They lend their money upon usury to the merchants trading in the Soudan, whither they never go themselves. Their only visible fortune consists in their houses, but they often take lands as a guarantee for the money which they lend. Money is always plentiful with the Jews: yet they affect the utmost poverty; because the Moors, who ascribe to them greater riches than they really possess, often persecute them for the purpose of extorting their gold: besides which, they not only pay tribute to the emperor and his agents, but are moreover harassed by the Berbers.
The Jews live better than the Mahometans, couscous and gruel forming but a small portion of their food; their bread is of wheat, kneaded and baked by themselves and their principal beverage, beer of their own brewing, though in the season of the vintage they make a little wine.