again to allow of the sun reaching them. The sight of acres of great heaps of dates is a most curious one. There are various processes of treating the dates. Some kinds are merely sun-dried and left single; [Illustration: _Young Women of Tafilet drying Dates._] others are crushed into solid masses, which are sewn up in basket-work for transport; while others again, used by the poor natives when travelling, are crushed into the shape and size of turkeys’ eggs, and are easier to carry in this manner. On one occasion, travelling in Morocco, I was given one of those solidified date-balls by a native of Tafilet, who was journeying to Tangier on his way to take ship to Mecca. Its appearance and feel was that of a stone, its weight that of lead! I kept it for some time in my house, and visitors used to take it for a fossil. What became of it I do not know, but I never found any native of North Morocco brave enough to attempt to eat it. Yet by the donor it was considered a great luxury. Besides the dates, crops of wheat and barley are grown at Tafilet, especially in the land to the west of the Gheris, called Beled el Unja. Millet and maize, however, are more common, and form the principal food of the people. In the gardens cabbages, onions, peas, beans, grapes, pomegranates, apples, pears, gourds, and melons flourish, but are only cultivated by the richer classes, turnips being the favourite vegetable of the poor. Large quantities of lucerne are grown in the shade of the palm-trees, and stored away for winter fodder for the horses and cattle. The only export of manufactured goods from Tafilet are the prepared skins, famous all over Morocco as _jeld el Fileli_, and fine _haiks_, the fleece of the native sheep being very fine. Gunsmiths and silversmiths, the latter principally Jews, are to be found in numbers, but the weapons are of coarse manufacture; while such trades as the making of sandals, universally worn by the poorer Arabs and Berbers, flourish. All good shoes are brought from Fez, those made in Tafilet, in spite of the fine leather, being very inferior. Bags for _kiff_, the chopped hemp which the natives smoke, are made in considerable quantities and sent to Morocco. These bags are generally some 6 inches in length by 3 in width. An outside cover or shell, open at one of the narrow ends, allows the bag with its several pockets to be drawn out. The whole is worn round the neck on a string, which, passing through the two upper corners of the outside bag, is made fast to that inside, so that to get at the _kiff_ the outer cover is slid up the two strings. Antimony and lead are both found in the vicinity of Tafilet, and the former, known as _kohl el Fileli_, was once famous, but it can be imported into Morocco nowadays from Europe at a cheaper rate than it can be worked and sent from Tafilet. The lead worked is only used for bullets, and is obtained merely in small quantities.