At the present time, Tafilett consists of a group of fortified or castle-built villages, environed by walls mounted with square towers, which extend on both sides of the river Zig.  There is also a castle, or rather small town, upon the left side of the river, called by the ordinary name of Kesar, which is in the hands of the Shereefs, and inhabited entirely by the family of the Prophet.  The principal and most flourishing place was a long time called Tafilett, but is now according to Callie, Ghourlan, and the residence of the Governor of the province of Ressant, a town distinguished by a magnificent gateway surrounded with various coloured Dutch tiles, symmetrically arranged in a diamond pattern.  This traveller calls the district of Tafilett, Afile or Afilel.

It is probable that from the rains of the ancient Sedjelmasa, some of the modern villages have been constructed.  The towns and districts of Tafilett once formed an independent kingdom.  The present population has been estimated at some ten thousand, but this is entirely conjectural.  Callie mentions the four towns of Ghourlan, L’Eksebi, Sosso and Boheim as containing eleven or twelve thousand souls.  The soil of Tafilett is level, composed of sand of an ashy grey, productive of corn, and all sorts of European fruits and vegetables.  The natives have fine sheep, with remarkably white wool.  The manufactures, which are in woollen and silk, are called Tafiletes.

Besides being a rendezvous of caravans, radiating through all parts of the Sahara, Tafilett is a great mart of traffic in the natural products of the surrounding countries.  A fine bridge spans the Zig, built by a Spaniard.  When the Sultan of Morocco finds any portion of his family inclined to be naughty, he sends them to Tafilett, as we are wont to send troublesome people to “Jericho.”  This, at any rate, is better than cutting off their heads, which, from time immemorial, has been the invariable practice of African and Oriental despots.  The Maroquine princes may be thankful they have Tafilett as a place of exile.  The Emperors never visit Tafilett except as dethroned exiles.  A journey to such a place is always attended with danger; and were the Sultan to escape, he would find, on his return, the whole country in revolt.

Regarding these royal cities, we sum up our observations.  The destinies of Fez and Mequinez are inseparable.  United, they contain one hundred thousand inhabitants, the most polished and learned in the Empire.  Fez is the city of arts and learning, that is of what remains of the once famous and profound Moorish doctors of Spain.  Mequinez is the strong place of the Empire, an emporium of arms and imperial Cretsures.  Fez is the rival of Morocco.  The two cities are the capitals of two kingdoms, never yet amalgamated.  The present dynasty belongs not to Fez, but to Morocco; though a dynasty of Shereefs, they are Shereefs of the south, and African blood flows in their veins.