The Jews exist in Tafilet under much the same conditions as in Dads, of which a full description has already been given—that is to say, each Jew family lives under the protection of some Moslem, be he Arab or Berber.
The costumes worn by the Berbers and Arabs of Tafilet are almost identical: in the former case the long linen chamira is never belted at the waist, the Berbers, for some reason which I was unable to discover, objecting to this. The jelab, or hooded garment sewn up the front, is unknown, the haik and haidus forming the costume of both peoples. The khenif, or black cloak with its strange red mark on the back, is seldom seen, except in cases of Shloh from the mountains who come with caravans; while the embroidered short brown jelab of the Riffi who accompanied me was considered as a marvellous curiosity by the natives.
The women wear either indigo-blue dyed cotton or jute, called khent, or else coarse woollen haiks of native manufacture. Leo Africanus mentions in his notes upon this district that large quantities of indigo were grown there, but nowadays all the blue khent is imported from London or Bombay. Amber beads, silver and coral necklaces, silver anklets and bracelets, are worn, according to the wealth of the families. The women are usually short and coarse in appearance, dirty and loud voiced. No doubt the harems contain better specimens, but those we saw in the open could be safely, one would think, permitted to go abroad with uncovered faces. The children are sometimes pretty; but soap is an expensive luxury in Tafilet, and washing seems to be an annual affair, if practised as often. However, I saw men bathing in the Wad Ziz as I forded that river on one occasion. The women are a great deal tattooed, the nose, forehead, and chin being often highly decorated by this process. They perform all the housework, fetch water, mind the cattle, collect firewood, and take vegetables, &c., to market—in fact every duty except that of fighting seems to fall to their lot.
The men are armed with guns and swords. Every youth, as soon as he reaches a certain age, is obliged to purchase a gun, all his earnings being saved for this purpose. Although the most common weapon is the flintlock of the country, a quantity of cheap double-barrelled guns, all muzzle-loading, are to be found. The native of Tafilet has a hankering after bullets that fit a No. 12 bore, and a charge of loose buckshot and nails he looks upon as a most estimable way of attacking his enemy. Little quarter is given: in the case of fighting between Arabs and Berbers, all males taken prisoner who are able to carry arms are mercilessly killed, usually stabbed with knives,—powder and shot, as already mentioned, being expensive.
The saddlery is of native design, but the bridles are usually brought from Algeria, being of the style used by the Franco-Arab cavalry of that country. This the Filelis find stronger than their own.
The food of the common people consists principally of gruel and kuskusu, the latter at times garnished with vegetables, and on rare occasions with meat or fowl; but it may be safely said that so great is the poverty in Tafilet that the poorer classes, although never wanting for absolute food, do not taste meat two or three times in the year, mutton on the Eid el Kebir being often the sole occasion.
The coinage to-day in use in Tafilet consists almost entirely of the Moorish money struck in Paris, and although in Morocco City all kinds of damaged Spanish silver is in use, at Tafilet it is not accepted. The rates in use at Tafilet are quite different to elsewhere. All sums of money are calculated in mitkals and okeas, neither of which exist in coin, being only verbal terms. In Morocco 12½ mitkals go to the Spanish dollar, and 10 okeas to the mitkal, which gives 125 okeas to the dollar; but at Tafilet, although 10 okeas compose a mitkal, 5 mitkals complete the dollar, so that 50 okeas is the value of a Spanish dollar there, instead of 125 okeas. However, as the same coins are in use all over the country, and the okea and mitkal are only expressions, the result is the same, though at first confusing. This change in calculation begins at Dads, and is found in the districts east of that country.
With regard to the products of Tafilet, the most important without doubt are the dates, and it is from this culture that the inhabitants are enabled to exist at all. Not only are they sent by caravan all over Morocco, but there are merchants of Fez who ship large quantities to London, and we often eat here in the centre of civilisation dates that are grown in this far-away and little-known oasis, and which have been carried on mule or donkey back over the hot arid desert and the snowy passes of the Atlas Mountains. To realise the enormous quantity of dates grown at Tafilet one must see the oasis. The palms, planted so thickly and so closely together as to obstruct one’s vision in every direction, form a gigantic forest, to pass through which, by the narrow lanes, is bewildering. I have explained elsewhere by what means the system of irrigation is carried on, and the scanty crops of vegetables and lucerne grown amongst them. The groves of the finest date-palms are in the vicinity of Abuaam in the district of Wad Ifli, and here they are nearly all enclosed in high walls. It is these dates, the Bu Skri and Bu Kfus, that are most prized, and luscious they are indeed, though they spoil by travelling. The commoner varieties are eaten in the country, or given as fodder to the cattle, goats, and horses. In the outer portions of the oasis the palm-groves are not walled, and the expense of building walls would not be repaid by the price realised for the commoner varieties of dates. Between the Wad Gheris and the Wad Ziz, in the province of Es Sifa, but few walls are found in repair, and the want of proper irrigation has caused the date-palms to deteriorate; but near Abuaam and Rissani the gardens are nearly all in the possession of the Shereefs, and are kept in a state of excellent repair. The dates were ripe at the time of my visit (November), and I was able to see not only the plucking but also the drying process. The labourers, principally the Haratin, are very skilful in climbing the palms. When the summit is reached either the entire bunch is cut off or else shaken, in either case the dates falling to the ground. Here they are collected into panniers, which are placed upon the backs of donkeys and taken to the drying-grounds. They are always plucked slightly unripe, as otherwise they fall to the ground themselves, and are rotted by the irrigation. At the drying-grounds—large open spaces, sometimes surrounded with walls—the dates are laid in the sun, a guard, often of women, being placed over them; for although they never object to one’s picking up a handful for one’s own consumption, the fruit would probably be stolen in far larger quantities were they left absolutely without watchers. These guards usually live in brown ghiem, as the hair tents of the Arabs are called, but sometimes build themselves huts of palm-leaves. The dates are poured in great heaps upon the ground, being turned over by the women every now and again to allow of the sun reaching them. The sight of acres of great heaps of dates is a most curious one. There are various processes of treating the dates. Some kinds are merely sun-dried and left single;
Young Women of Tafilet drying Dates.