I found the natives loath to talk of Sijilmassa, for after my arrival in the Sultan’s camp I made no pretence of being a Moslem. At the same time they were greatly surprised that I had ever heard of, or knew anything about, the place, and not a little proud that such was the case. Their reticence I put down to the fact that there is a tradition of untold gold buried in the city—a tradition that exists about every ancient site in Morocco. The inventive genius of newspaper correspondents caused to be circulated in the English newspapers a report that Mulai el Hassen, the late Sultan, had recovered this treasure and built an immense fortress to conceal it in; but I fear, as I was present during nearly the entire visit of the Sultan to Tafilet, and saw his Shereefian Majesty every day, that the story must be discredited. So far from obtaining treasure, I estimate the expense to his Majesty of his stay at Tafilet of twenty days at a sum of nearly a million of dollars. Of the foundation of Sijilmassa the natives seem to know but little. They, as is nearly always the case, connect its origin with the _Rumin_, or Romans, a term the Moslems use for any nation not professing Islam, and which is far more likely in this case to mean the Amazighs or original Berbers than any one else; for, as already mentioned, it is quite clear that the Romans never reached as far as this, though I am inclined to believe the Carthaginians, if never actually in Tafilet, approached it very closely. No discoveries of any great importance in the way of buildings are likely to be made in Sijilmassa, though bronze implements are reported to be found there, for apparently all the buildings were constructed of _tabia_ or a poor form of brick. A bridge of arches crosses the Wad Ziz at one portion of the ruins; but unfortunately I was not able to see of what it was constructed, as I only caught a distant view of it, and it appears to be coated with yellow plaster. Probably it is built of brick and covered with cement, or possibly stone was brought from Jibel Saghru for the purpose. The inhabitants of Tafilet consist of both Arabs and Berbers, with a considerable number of Jews. The Arab population, which is considerably the largest, is divided into four tribes or divisions— 1. The Shereefian families; 2. Ahl Subah Arabs; 3. Beni Mohammed; 4. Tafilet Arabs;