Professing an Arab origin—for they claim descent from the famous tribe of the Koreish, that gave to the world the Prophet Mohammed—they have lapsed by time into essentially a Berber people, speaking the Shelha tongue, and adopting the Berber manners and customs, and to a great extent dress and appearance. Almost the sole reminder of their Arab origin to-day is the fact that they are great horsemen, and still greater robbers and plunderers. As a rule, the Berbers seem to be constantly at war without the idea of plunder, their feuds being far more often matters of revenge. With the Aït Atta, however, this is different, and they seem to retain from the time of their Eastern ancestors the love of going afield for conquest and booty, with the result that there is little land of the eastern portion of trans-Atlas Morocco which has not at one time or another been overrun, or at least attacked, by their hordes. Not only to-day do they hold sway over the immense wastes of Jibel Saghru, but even a large portion of the Wad Draa has fallen into their hands, the natives, Haratin, paying to their conquerors an annual tribute, in return for which they are protected against attack from other quarters. On the banks of the Wad Ziz, the principal river of Tafilet, they hold the districts of Ertib (Reteb) and Medaghra, and it is members of their tribe who plough the banks of the Dayet ed Daura, far to the south of Tafilet, the great marsh formed by the rivers Ziz and Gheris. To the north their influence extends as far as the southern slopes of Jibel Ayashi, near where the caravan road from Fez to Tafilet passes, and to the east they hold much territory in the desert.