At the end of the tar road is the scruffy village of M'hamid. Technically M'hamid Jdid (New M'hamid), there's not a lot here to attract travelers except to stock up on water or organize a trip into the dunes. M'hamid Kedima is the attractive old village set in the palm grove on the other side of the dry Oued Dra. Picturesque kasbahs -- some still inhabited by the Aït Haratin, descendants of West African slaves who settled here -- are dotted among the palms and shifting sands, and it was here that the great camel caravans would stop. For a time gold was even melted and stamped here, a craft practiced by the region's long-gone Jewish population.