Tafilet

by Walter Harris

(v.) El Ghorfa, or Ghorfa, lies to the east and north-east of Es Sefalat, and extends from that district to the desert. Although its western portion is well watered and cultivated, the east seems to have suffered from the drifting sands, and boasts no great fertility. It contains many ksor, but being subject to attacks on the part of the Berbers and Arabs of the Sahara, no great trade is possible. The southern boundary of El Ghorfa is the Sebkhat Aamar, a large salt lake, the monopoly for working the deposits of which rests with the Shereefs, who send most of the salt to the great market near the tomb of Mulai Ali Shereef in the district of Wad Ifli, some fifteen miles distant.

(vi.) Tanijiud is the north-east province of Tafilet, and, like Ghorfa, is bounded on the east by the desert. Its water-supply, like that of the last-mentioned district, is brought by canal from the Wad Ziz, diverging from the main channel of that river at Iniyerdi in Medaghra. The cutting off of this water-supply by the Berbers higher up the valley is a constant cause of warfare. Several other small channels from the Ziz reach Ghorfa and Tanijiud, all eventually becoming exhausted in cultivation or in the desert. The principal ksar of Tanijiud is that of Ulad Yusef, who are, as their name implies (“sons of Joseph”), Arabs. This ksar is situated on the extreme edge of the oasis, and almost in the desert, amongst the bare stony hills found on this, the north-east portion of Tafilet.

(vii.) Wad Ifli, the sole remaining district to be mentioned, forms the centre of the oasis, and is surrounded by the six others of which I have just given a brief description. All the religion, trade, and interest of Tafilet centres in this district. Its position, surrounded as it is by friendly people, ensures safety against attack from without, and it is no doubt as much owing to this cause as any other that Wad Ifli forms the most prosperous part of Tafilet. No attack could be made upon it until the outlying districts had been passed, and these, if not to protect the centre state, at least for their own safety, would offer a very stubborn resistance. It was no doubt largely on this account, and also as its position allows of its being easily and well irrigated, that the ancient Amazighs founded there the city of Sijilmassa, on the banks of the Wad Ziz, which, to judge from its ruins, must in its most flourishing days have extended some five miles along the river-bank. It is in Ifli, too, that nowadays, when Sijilmassa has ceased to exist, the life and soul of Tafilet are found. Here is interred Mulai Ali Shereef, founder of the Fileli dynasty, while near by is the domed tomb of Mulai Esh Shereef, his son, King of Tafilet. In Abuaam, the richest of its many ksor, congregate and live the merchants of Fez, in whose hands is practically not only the entire local trade, but also that of the Sudan beyond. It is the influence of these merchants that has brought about improvements in the building of the houses, and luxuries within. Close by is the large ksar of Rissani, the official residence of the governors of Tafilet, where some fifty soldiers are permanently quartered, though any attempt to interfere with local affairs would cost them their lives. Here too in large ksor live the Shereefs, existing in luxury compared to their neighbours, for they receive a subsidy in money and kind from the reigning Sultans. The great market, too, of Tafilet is there, the Arbaa, or Wednesday market, of Mulai Ali Shereef, which I shall describe anon. In fact it is in Ifli, with its well-kept canals and limitless supply of water, with its bridges and walled gardens, its large ksor and saints’ tombs, that all that is prosperous and wealthy in Tafilet is to be found, and it is little wonder that the inhabitants of this quarter of the oasis give themselves airs above the rest of the population. Gurlan, which Caillié mentions as the capital at the time of his visit to Tafilet in 1828, no longer plays a part of any importance in the oasis, though it still exists as a large ksar.

Having briefly described the different districts of the oasis, mention must now be made of the system of irrigation employed in the cultivation of so large an extent of soil. Fortunately the lie of the land is such that water has not to be raised by artificial means, the gradual slope of the valley allowing of the drawing of inexhaustible water-supplies from the Wad Ziz. Innumerable canals and conduits pierce the oasis in every direction, some of them as much as 15 or 20 feet in width and of considerable depth, while the water is pure and transparent, and flows very fast.

Near the ruins of Medinat el Aamra, or Sijilmassa, is the largest and deepest canal I saw, the channel bricked and bridged wherever the road or a track crosses it. This channel must be from 20 to 30 feet in breadth, and although my visit was made after a long and exceptionally dry summer, the water was some 4 to 6 feet in depth, flowing very swiftly. Although Sijilmassa stood on the actual brink of the river, the banks are so high that no water could be raised to the level of the town except on donkey-back, or by women in jars, and this canal, which draws off so large a quantity of water from much higher up the river, was no doubt built on this account. So numerous and so connected one with another are the canals and conduits of the oasis, that one crosses them almost at every 50 yards or so. These watercourses are usually raised above the surface of the surrounding ground by banks at each side, so that by cutting away a foot or so of bank the stream can be turned on to the level of the soil, and quickly floods the ground to be irrigated. The land between the canals—that is to say, the plots of cultivated soil—are usually divided into square beds, varying from 10 to 20 yards in length and breadth, and divided from one another by low banks of earth, so that one portion can be flooded without wasting water unnecessarily on the ground or crop that may not require it. Often small channels are cut on the top of these low earth-banks, so that the stream can be carried here and there in every direction, and turned on just where it is needed. Except to the western side of the Wad Gheris, the crops are all grown under the palm-trees. In El Unja, however, as the land in question is called, there are but few palm-groves.

It is seldom in the oasis of Tafilet that one’s view extends to more than 100 yards or so in any direction. This is owing to the extraordinary thick growth of the date-palms, which rise on all sides a bewildering forest of straight stems. In Ifli, too,

In Tafilet.

the high walls of the gardens obstruct one’s vision in every direction. These walls are built of the native concrete, tabia, and are often so high that only the tops of the fruit-trees within appear above them. The water from the irrigating channels finds ingress into these gardens by subterranean conduits, while small bridges cross the roads, generally formed by palm-trunks laid from side to side and covered with sand. One comes quite suddenly upon the high-walled ksor, which, until one has approached them nearly, are entirely hidden by the gardens and palms. The outer portions of the oasis are less thickly grown over with palms, but the line between the desert sand and the alluvial soil and irrigated oasis is clearly defined. One walks out of a green field of palm-trees ankle-deep into soft yellow sand, and one’s vision stretches away over undulating white hills the very glare of which is painful to the sight. Here and there throughout the oasis are large open spaces, usually for the purpose of drying the dates in, and now and again for local markets, or sôks. The walled villages, too, often have a clear space surrounding them of 20 yards or so of open ground, to allow the sight of the attacking force in their continual intertribal wars.

Nothing more bewildering can be imagined than the roads, or tracks, that thread the oasis. Owing to the great value of land they are as narrow as is practicable, and turn and twist in every direction amongst the gardens. In going from El Meharza in Sifa to Dar el baida on the east side of the oasis on the borders of the desert, although the general direction is south-east, one is often travelling due north or due south, owing to the extraordinary turns the path takes amongst the walled gardens of the district of Wad Ifli.