The position of Nefta and its environs is very picturesque.  Water is here abundant.  The principal source, which, under the name of Wad Nefta, takes its rise at the north of the city, in the midst of a movement of earth, enters the villages of Sherfa and Sidi Ahmed; divides them in two, and fecundates its gardens planted with orange-trees, pomegranates, and fig-trees.  The same spring, by the means of ducts of earth, waters a forest of date-trees which extends some leagues.  A regulator of the water (kaed-el-ma) distributes it to each proprietor of the plantation.

The houses of Nefta are built generally of brick; some with taste and luxury; the interior is ornamented with Dutch tiles brought from Tunis.  Each quarter has its mosque and school, and in the centre of the group of villages is a place called Rebot, on the banks of Wad Nefta, which serves for a common market.  Here are quarters specially devoted to the aristocratic landed proprietors, and others to the busy merchants.  The Shereefs are the genuine nobles, or seigneurs of Nefta, from among whom the Bey is wont to choose the Governors of the city.  The complexion of the population is dark, from its alliance with Negress slaves, like most towns advanced in the Desert.  The manners of the people are pure.  They are strict observers of the law, and very hospitable to strangers.  Captain B., however, thought that, had he not been under the protection of the Bey, his head would not have been worth much in these districts.  Every traveller almost forms a different opinion, and frequently the very opposite estimate, respecting the strangers amongst whom he is sojourning.  A few Jewish artizans have always been tolerated here, on condition of wearing a black handkerchief round their heads, and not mount a horse, &c.  Recently the Bey, however, by solemn decrees, has placed the Jews exactly on the same footing of rights and privileges as the rest of his subjects.

Nefta is the intermediate entrepot of commerce which Tunis pours towards the Sahara, and for this reason is called by the Arabs, “the gate of Tunis;” but the restrictive system established by the Turks during late years at Ghadumes, has greatly damaged the trade between the Jereed and the Desert.  The movement of the markets and caravans takes place at the beginning of spring, and at the end of summer.  Only a portion of the inhabitants is devoted to commerce, the rich landed proprietory and the Shereefs representing the aristocracy, lead the tranquil life of nobles, the most void of care, and, perhaps, the happiest of which contemplative philosophy ever dreamed.  The oasis of Nefta, indeed, is said to be the most poetic of the Desert; its gardens are delicious; its oranges and lemons sweet; its dates the finest fruit in the “land of dates.”  Nearly all the women are pretty, of that beauty peculiar to the Oriental race; and the ladies who do not expose themselves to the fierce sun of the day, are as fair as Mooresses.