A Woman of Dads.
speaking the pure dialect. Numbers of these “Haratin” are to be found all over Morocco, where they usually pursue the calling of water-carriers, and thus become members of the fraternity of Mulai Yakub, to whose tomb, at the hot springs near Fez, they have to make a pilgrimage before taking to the guerba or “water-skin,” from which they peddle the liquid to the crowd. They are usually an honest and trustworthy people and excellent labourers, talking and laughing while they dig or ply whatever trade they have taken to, but they seem incapable of skilled labour of any sort.
Having now briefly sketched the character and manner of life of the people of Dads, a few words must be written as to the country their tribe inhabits.
The division of the Berbers which takes its name from the river Dads possesses the entire banks of that river from the spot where it leaves the valley of the main chain of the Atlas to where it changes its course from north and south to east and west, a few miles from the northern slopes of Jibel Saghru, the Anti-Atlas, where the tribe of Aït Yahia, a division of the larger Seddrat, commences. The distance thus in the hands of the Dads tribe is a narrow strip of land on both banks of the river, some twenty-five miles in length. The fact that their district extends from the Atlas range to the Anti-Atlas gives them a power altogether beyond their numerical strength amongst the Berbers of trans-Atlas Morocco, for by their position they hold entire command over the caravan-roads from Marakesh to Tafilet and the intermediate places. Whichever road be chosen—whether it be by the valleys of the Warzazat and Idermi, by the Glawi Pass, or by Demnat and Aït bu Gemmés—the traveller is obliged to pass through Dads, and in order that caravans may do so with immunity, it is necessary that alliances be made with the tribe by the surrounding people. This, too, empowers the inhabitants of Dads to trade with far more security than those of the other districts, for the fact that they allow caravans to pass through without plundering them gives them the same right elsewhere; and should another tribe rob or attack a Dads caravan, woe betide the next band of men of the tribe in question that passed through Dads. Thus it was that I heard on my return from Tafilet that a small caravan from Askura, coming from the east, met with a reception that amply repaid the loss of the property of the mule-drivers who had accompanied us through Askura, and whose plundering we had witnessed. Again, the strength of Dads is owing, no doubt, not a little to the fact that the tribe is undivided, and collected at one spot, whereas, I believe without exception, all the other Berber tribes are scattered over various parts of the country, none inhabiting one district, as is the case with Dads. Although continual blood-feuds are springing up amongst the inhabitants of the various ksor, the tribe unites in the case of attack from without, all intervillage quarrels being left until the enemy is driven off. But so firm a position have the people managed to obtain for themselves, and so renowned are they for their pluck and bravery, that nowadays attack from other tribes is uncommon. However, a few years since the powerful Aït Atta marched in force against the inhabitants of Dads, accompanied by a large number of horsemen; but the superiority in numbers, and the fact that the Dads people possessed no horses, did not suffice to give them victory, and they were, after a long struggle, eventually driven back to the east across the plain of Anbed. A few Aït Atta ksor which had formerly stood at Dads, inhabited by friendly tribesmen, were thereupon destroyed, and the Attauis driven out or put to the sword.
In all those wars and blood-feuds no quarter is given, any one old enough to carry a gun or dagger, the two weapons of the country, being considered fair game. Prisoners taken alive are stabbed to death with the curved dagger of the place, powder and shot being too valuable. Contrary to this barbarous custom, the women and children are spared, the former being permitted to go free, and a strict code of honour prevents their being violated. Immediately a ksor is besieged the women and children are allowed to pass out untouched, and are even helped on their way to safe quarters by the enemy. In many cases of this sort strange incongruities are found amongst the Berber people. In the case of the Arabs, prisoners of war might be spared, but the women would be a prize too tempting to be allowed to escape, and would one and all be outraged, and the children as likely as not sold.
The river flows through the centre of the valley, flat gardens extending from its banks to where the parallel cliffs rise to the level of the plain east and west. The ksor for the most part lie immediately below these cliffs, though in the upper portion, particularly in Aït Iunir, they are found scattered amongst the gardens, rising most picturesquely above the tree-tops. These gardens are usually walled, and contain little but figs, and these of a poor quality, though they give large crops. The upper portion of the valley seems to be far more fertile than near Aït bu Haddu, for instance, for the fruit-trees reach a far larger size, and the vegetation is richer altogether. Apples, pears, plums, and apricots abound here, though below few are found, and pomegranates are not uncommon. The date-palm is absent altogether.
As at Askura, one is struck by the labour that has been expended in ensuring a continual supply of water for the gardens. This is done by means of innumerable small canals. On account of the level of the gardens being somewhat higher than that of the river-bed, the water has in almost all cases to be drawn off from the main stream far above the ksor and gardens it is to supply, and this fact is a constant cause of warfare; for when a village is separated from the river by a couple of miles perhaps of canal, on which it entirely depends for its supply, the enemy soon take advantage of the fact and cut off their water, which raises the siege at once, and a sortie has to be made by the defenders. Nor is it only during war, for, more often still, the original commencement of the strife is the fact that some one has drawn off the contents of some one else’s canal, and a feud commences. The water, however, serves a purpose in warfare other than raising sieges by being cut off, for the very opposite policy is often resorted to, and water brought to play upon the soft tabia walls of the ksar, a channel being dug right up to the building. Strong as it is to withstand the effects of climate, tabia is like blotting-paper before water, and almost as soon as the walls are reached the building commences to crumble away from the foundations, imperiling the lives of all within, and necessitating a sudden flight, and probably the falling into the hands of the enemy waiting without. In order to prevent their enemies from approaching the ksor and cutting off or turning on the water, both equally disastrous, watch-towers are built along the banks of the canals. The äudin, as the natives call them, are usually square towers some 30 to 40 feet in height, and full of loopholes. In case of war they are garrisoned with a handful of men who are supplied with sufficient quantities of water and provisions to stand a siege, and from them a guard can be kept over the canal and its banks, while their position—the summit, as a rule, of mounds—prevents the water being turned on to their foundations. The whole of the Dads valley is sprinkled with these towers, which add a by no means unpicturesque feature to their scenery.
Looking down from the tops of the cliffs upon the valley of Dads, the district presents an appearance the like of which I have seen nowhere else in the world. It is not that it is beautiful scenery, or that its fertility calls for admiration; rather it is the fact that in its curious position and architecture it is unique. The valley, with the river flowing through its midst, is entirely shut in on both sides by high cliffs of yellow soil. From amongst the gardens crop up everywhere the ksor with their battlements and towers, each one of which would be considered a large building in Europe. As a frame to this strange scene there is the barren desert, bounded on the north by the rocky snow-clad peaks of the great chain of the Atlas, and on the south by the irregular line of Jibel Saghru.
The district of Dads is divided into six portions, each of which contains many ksor. These subdivisions of the tribe are respectively, commencing from the south—