Information about the country of Tazroualt. The Taleb Sidi Brahim, son of
Mahomet, of Massat in Sous, tells the following: He started for the zaouiah
of Tazroualt, to study there during seven months with the taleb Sidi
Mahomet Adjeli, one of the greatest lights. The number of students was
seventy-four. Forty-two of these studied the law. The others read the
Koran. None of the students paid for his living. It was furnished by the
chief of the country, Hecham. He gave to the zaouiah mentioned, six
servants and six slaves to cook the food of the students. The number of the
villages of this country is nine. The Kashlah of Hecham is situated in the
middle of the country. The Jewish quarter is at the left. The market is
held every day at the entrance to the fort. This latter is built of stone,
lime, and pine planks and beams. Riches abound. Caravans go from there to
Timbuctoo, the Soudan, Sahara, and Agadir-Ndouma. They go to these
countries to buy ivory, ostrich feathers, slaves, gold and silver. If it
hurries, a caravan consumes a whole year in visiting these places. The
people of the different countries buy from them and give in exchange other
merchandise, such as linen, cotton, silks, iron, steel, incense, corals,
cloves, spikenard, haberdashery, pottery, glass, and everything that comes,
as they say, from the country of Christians. When these goods enumerated
above have arrived, the merchants, both Jews and Mussulmans, come forward
and buy them according to the needs of their business. I will add here,
with more details, some words about Hecham. He has twelve sons, all
horsemen, who have thirty-six horses. As for oxen, sheep, and camels, God
alone could tell the figure. The number of the wives that Hecham has
married is four white and six slaves--the latter black. His only son has as
many white wives as his father, but more black ones. The men of Tizeroualt
are of the number of 1,400. But for the women, boys, and girls, God alone
knows the figure. They possess 200 horses, beside those of Hecham. There
are 750 houses; the number of books in the mosque is 130--in the Chelha
language.