These two Sheikhs are objects of most religious
veneration amongst all true believers, and there is nothing which would
not be done at their bidding.
Nefta, the Negeta of the ancients, is the frontier town of the Tunisian
territories from the south, being five days' journey, or about
thirty-five or forty leagues from the oases of Souf, and fifteen days'
from Ghadumes. Nefta is not so much a town as an agglomeration of
villages, separated from one another by gardens, and occupying an extent
of surface twice the size that of the city of Algiers. These villages
are Hal Guema, Mesaba, Zebda Ouled, Sherif, Beni Zeid, Beni Ali, Sherfa,
and Zaouweeah Sidi Ahmed.
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.
