MULAY   BU   SELHAM.   —-   TIFLET.                     171
 

From Rabat to IVIequinez.

By Road : 142 k.; good highroad N° 14. — c. t. m. and Zakar motor-omnibus
services in 4 h., 30 fr. and in 6 h., 25 fr. — This road, which partly corres¬
ponds with the old trik es Soltane, or Imperial highway, was laid down
by General Moinier, on his return from his expedition to Fez and Mequinez,

By Rail :

4 k. from llabaL to Salee, p. 1()2, B. -—Beyond this point, the
road extends due E. over the plateau.

(i k. Lauzet estate, lined with recently planted vineyards.

13 k. Mamora; road-mender's cottage. We enter the forest
(p. 168), stretching away for 27 k,, over a widelv undulating countrv.

17 k. On the 1,, a track branches off to (27 k.) Knitra (p, 1(56).
In the clearing are to be seen nomad encampments of black tents.

22 k. Bir El Ameur; road-mender's cottage. —^ 23 k. A well.

30 k. Monod, a former military post, 4 k. distant from the Mara¬
bout of Sidi Allah El Bahraui. ^

40 k. The forest comes to an end. The country is covered with
dwarf palm-trees. We now reach the more hilly territory of the
Berber tribe of the Zemmtir, a wheat and cattle raising district.

10 k, Tiflet (inn), headquarters of the Controle Civil des Zemmour.
on a ridge overlooking the Oued Tiflet, an affluent of the Sebu.

The Berbers of the tent villages in the surrounding district belong to the
ancient Zemmur Confederation, which occupies an area bounded in tho N.,
by the Forest of Mamora, ia the S. by the lower spurs of the Middle Atlas,
and in the E by deep valleys Before them, the country was inhabited by
the Beni Hassen, now settled farther N. It was at all times difficult
of access. The intractable inhabitants obliged tho Sultans, when on their
way from Marrakesh to Mequinez, to go round by Babat and Petitjean.
Their chief occupation is stock-raising, though they also practise farming,
charcoal-burning, the extraction of tar, the manufacture of mats made
of twisted dwarf-palm fibres and lined with wool, and the reputed Ait Uahi
carpets, resembling the Zaian carpets.

Beyond Tiflet, we wind our way along the slopes of a vale
watered by the Oued Tiflet, the banks of which are taken up by
market gardens,

62 k. A track branches off, on the r. to (36 k.) Maaziz, (63 k.)
Tedders, (75 k.) Ulmez.

The road leads on through a region of pasture-lands, crossing
several rivers on as many bridges. Ahead, towards the S., we
get occasional glimpses of the Middle Atlas.

64 k. Ain Nefam; road-mender's cottage. On the 1., a forest
track branches off to (24 k. 5) Dar Bel Hassin. The sandy fields,
overgrown with dwarf-palms, asphodels and fennel are used as
pasture-land. —71 k. A fresh belt of land under cultivation.

74- k. Bir Sharif: road-mender's cottage, •—84 k, Khemisset,
a village, on a mound, in a fme wheat district.