Tafilet

by Walter Harris

Inside the Village of Aït bu Haddu, at Dads.

we had arranged to meet again later in the afternoon, and walk about in the gardens which line the river-banks.

Meanwhile, I think some description ought to be given as to the appearance of the men I found myself among and their womenkind.

Certainly of all the tribes and peoples that I have come across in Morocco, those of Dads far exceed the rest in good looks and handsome build. As a rule, all the men are well above average height, gracefully and strongly formed, withal possessing an appearance of athletes. In colour they are fair, the eyes sometimes blue, but generally dark, while the eyelashes and eyebrows are black. The nose, contrary to the general Berber type, is aquiline, and the mouth finely cut and well shaped. Although they follow the rule of shaving the head, they do not, like the Arabs, allow the beard and moustache to grow, but entirely shave off the latter, and leave only a small pointed beard on the extremity of the chin, which extends to the ears in a fine line of closely cut hair on either side. Their hands and feet are small and well shaped, the former showing no signs of manual labour, all of which is performed by the women, the men being the warriors, as it were, and, unless employed as caravan-drivers, spending their time in idleness or bloodshed.

It is impossible in such a description as this to really reproduce the type of the Berber of Dads, for his charm, and undoubtedly he possesses much, is owing more perhaps to his manner and innate politeness than to his outward form, though even in the latter respect he is superb. Fierce as they are in war, the people of Dads are when at peace the gentlest of creatures, extremely devoted to their children, and living a home-life absolutely unknown amongst the Arabs. Just as in appearance, so in moral character, do they excel, and the vices so common amongst the Moors are unknown in the homes of the Berbers. They seem to possess none of that uncontrollable passion that is so large a feature in the Arab character, and its place is taken by affection and sincerity. Seldom marrying more than one wife, prostitution is absolutely unknown, with the result that the health of the tribe is excellent, and one never sees those horrid disfigurements of feature so common in other portions of Morocco. No doubt to a great extent the moral character of the Berbers is due to the fact that their women are allowed entire liberty, do not veil their faces, and mix on almost all occasions with the men. One of the first things that struck me on my arrival at Dads was the good-humoured and innocent chaff that passed between the men and the girls of the tribe, even in the streets of the ksar, and still more when they brought us our food to the minzah on the house-top. The women are distinctly pretty, with very fair skins and clear complexions; but they detract much from their appearance by the strange manner in which they adorn their features with henna and kohl, the former a red dye, the latter antimony. Usually five red streaks pass from the top of the forehead to the eyebrows, while each cheek contains a triangular patch of the same hue. The eyebrows and lashes are darkened with the kohl, a black patch is put upon the tip of the nose, another at each point of the mouth, and still another on the chin. The neck is often slightly tattooed in a narrow design running from under the chin as far as the breasts.

The costume of the women of Dads consists almost entirely of khent—indigo-blue cotton—the dress being formed of two pieces, which fasten over the shoulder and hang as if “cut square,” back and front. Under the arms the two strips of khent are sown together as far as below the knees. A girdle—usually a cord of red wool wound several times round the body, and the ends hanging down in long tassels—takes the place of the wide hazam of the Arab women, and is infinitely more graceful. Often a second strip of khent is worn as a shawl, being brought over one shoulder and fastened below the other arm. Necklaces of silver beads and pendants with coral and amber form the chief ornament; and often the head-dress of khent is decorated in silver, while bangles and a few anklets are worn. The women usually go barefoot, a few of the richest only seeming to wear shoes; while with the men the sandal—generally of raw hide—is almost universal.

The men’s dress is picturesque. Over the long wide-sleeved shirt, or chamira, is worn a haidus of thick black woollen material, or else the same hooded garment in white wool, often varied with narrow stripes of cotton interwoven. On the head a small white turban, leaving the crown bare, is the customary covering; but many affect, too, the kheit, or soft wool string, and still more go bareheaded. As is usual with all Berbers, no belt or sash is worn, the long chamira hanging ungirdled from the neck to the ankles.

All sorts and varieties of hairdressing are to be found amongst the children. Some have the crown bare, and the hair on the sides of the head long, just for all the world like the babies of Japan, while others possess a regular patchwork design of hair and bald spots all over the head. They seem a happy good-natured lot these children of Dads, and spend nearly the entire day at play, seldom fighting or quarrelling. The principal occupation of the boys seems to be slinging, at which they are remarkably adept. The sling is formed of a small net of close-woven string, with two long cords attached, and even quite small urchins can send a stone to a great distance. Another amusement, absolutely unknown to the Arabs so far as I am aware, is the modelling of little figures out of clay. Some that I saw were excellent, principally men on horseback, and most creditable performances for children who have nothing but their fingers to work with. The horsemen were generally stood up a few yards off and pelted with stones until broken, the excited urchins meanwhile shouting, “The Arabs! the Arabs!”—the common war-cry of their tribe when fighting with the latter race.

In spite of the great size of the ksor of Dads, with their castellated towers and fortified walls, the place is an extremely poor one, and little or no money circulates, except amongst the men employed in caravan-work. Even in this case it is very few indeed who possess more than a couple of mules, such being considered a large capital, and the long and wearisome journey to Morocco City and back usually brings only some five dollars or so of profit per mule; that is to say, an absence of a fortnight, with some 250 miles of desert and mountain, the latter often snow-clad, may, if robbers be escaped and favourable luck be met with, bring in some sixteen shillings of English money. But, as a rule, the population of Dads subsist upon the dried figs and other scanty produce of their gardens, which are poor enough little fields, well irrigated certainly, but with inferior soil and scanty products. The figs are plucked ripe and laid out on to the flat house-tops to dry in the sun, and eventually stored for the winter. So hard do they become that we were obliged to crush them between stones before we were able to make any impression upon them with our teeth. Very few cattle are to be found, such as there are being entirely stall-fed, fsa—a kind of lucerne—being grown for the purpose. There being absolutely no grazing land, the cows seldom leave the yards of the house. They are invariably fed out of mangers, built of tabia, and raised about 12 to 18 inches from the ground. The women attend to the cattle as to everything else, it being their duty to fetch and carry water and firewood, in fact to do almost all the work with the exception of tilling the soil, and in a few cases I saw them even so occupied. As a rule, the cultivation is done by paid workmen, who take piecework, the digging of an acre of soil preparatory to its being sown with turnips bringing the labourer about two shillings English money. These labourers are not of the Dads tribe, for they think it below their station to dig, but usually come from the banks of the Wad Draa, and are known, both amongst themselves and all over Morocco, as “Haratin”—that is to say, “freemen,” and not slaves. In type they form much in common with the negro, and seem too not unlike him in good humour and docility. Their language is a variety of Shelha, called “Drauia,” but is only partially comprehensible to the tribes