Washington, of the Roman or Carthaginian town of Shella. The site, however, appears to be that of the Emporicum Sinum of Ptolemy, who notices first that place, then the mouths of the river Sala, and then Záλamolis, or the city of Sala, of which Shella appears to have been a mediaval corruption, as Salee is a modern one. Pliny speaks of it as "oppidum Sala, ejusdem nominis fluvio impositum, jam solitudinibus vicinum, elephantorum gregibus infestum, multo tamen magis Autolum gente, per quam iter est ad montem Africæ vel fabulossissimum Atlantem." It is manifest, from this passage, that in olden times the lakes and forests of Mamorah were tenanted by troops of elephants. Richardson speaks of Rabat as follows:

Rabat, or Er-Rabat, and on some of the foreign maps Nuova Sale, is a modern city of considerable extent, densely populated, strong and well-built, belonging to the province of Temsna. It is situate on the declivity of a hill, opposite to Salee, on the other side of the river, or left side of the Bouragrag, which is as broad as the Thames at London Bridge, and might be considered as a great suburb, or another quarter of the same city. It was built by the famous Yakob-el-Mansour, nephew of Abd-el-Moumen, and named by him Rabat-elFatah, i. e. "camp of victory," by which name it is now often mentioned.

The walls of Rabat enclose a large space of ground, and the town is defended on the sea-side by three forts, erected some years ago by an English renegade, and furnished with ordnance from Gibraltar. Among the population are three or four thousand Jews, some of them of great wealth and consequence. The merchants are active and intelligent, carrying on commerce with Fez, and other places of the interior, as also with the foreign ports of Genoa, Gibraltar, and Marseilles. In the middle ages, the Genoese had a great trade with Rabat, but this trade is now removed to Mogador. Many beautiful gardens and plantations adorn the suburbs, deserving even the name of "an earthly paradise."

The Moors of Rabat are mostly from Spain, expelled thence by the Spaniards. The famous sultan, Almanzor, intended that Rabat should be his capital. His untenanted mausoleum is placed here, in a separate and sacred quarter. This prince, surnamed "the victorious" (Elmansor), was he who expelled the Moravedi from Spain. He is the Nero of Western Africa, as Keatinge says, their "King Arthur." Tradition has it that Elmansor went in disguise to Mecca, and returned no more. Mankind love this indefinite and obscure end of their heroes. Moses went up to the mountain to die there in eternal mystery. At a short distance from Rabat is Shella, or its ruins, a small suburb situate on the summit of a hill, which contains the tombs of the royal family of the BeniMerini, and the founder of Rabat, and is a place of inviolate sanctity, no infidel being permitted to enter therein. Monsieur Chénier supposes Shella to have been the site of the metropolis of the Carthaginian colonies.

We have no accurate topographical details regarding the country that intervenes between the united ports of Sala and Rabat, and the cities of Mekinez and Fez. The road would manifestly lie up the valley of the "Father of Ripples," and thence along the tributary to that river upon which Mekinez is situated. The correct name of this latter city is, according to Gräberg, Miknasah, "a broom," but Richardson says that the city of Miknas, or Miknasa, in Arabic, was founded by the tribe of Berbers Meknasah, a fraction of the Zenabah, in the middle of the tenth century, and hence its Spanish and Portuguese name of Mequinez, or Mekinez. This city is described as being situated sixty miles from Sala, but as the "programme" only allows three days' journey between the two places, we must suppose that there is some error in this. The old capital of Morocco stands on a fertile soil, well watered with small streams.

The climate is also temperate and healthy. Like Morocco, it is surrounded with a triple wall thirty feet high; like that city, too, it has a separate quarter inhabited by Jews. This quarter is likewise walled, and the gates are shut every night. In other respects the buildings are similar to those of every other Moorish city. The streets are narrow, and as they are not paved, they are in winter extremely dirty. On one side stands a town, formerly peopled by negroes, and hence designated as the town of slaves. It is now uninhabited. The palace is strengthened by two bastions, on which are mounted some small pieces of artillery, and two thousand black troops are said to be in charge of the royal treasures, estimated at some fifty million dollars. These treasures, according to Richardson, consist of jewels, bars of gold and silver, and money in the two precious metals, the greater part being Spanish and Mexican dollars. It is to be observed that Richardson had this at second-hand, and it is well known how little credit is to be attached to Oriental reports of fabulous wealth. Richardson, in reality, only visited Tangiers and Mogador personally.

Windhus, who accompanied Commodore Stewart on his embassy to the Sultan Abu-l-Mazir Mulai Ishmael in 1721, and who, at that time, resided at Mekinez, describes his palace as being about four miles in circumference, standing upon even ground, in form almost square, and no hill near to overlook it. The inside of the palace, which is built of mortar, without either brick or stone except for pillars and arches, consists of divers oblong squares, some of them larger than Lincoln's Inn-fields, having piazzas all round. Some of the squares were chequered throughout the whole space, others had gardens in the middle, that were sunk very deep, and planted round with tall cypress-trees, the tops of which appearing above the rails produced a pleasing effect of palace and garden intermixed. Within the palace were also many Kobbehs, built square, with plain walls on the outside, except the front, which consists of piazzas of five or six arches, and the roofs were covered with green tiles, and rose up in the shape of a pyramid. In some of these squares were rows of marble basins, with little channels cut in stone, conveying water from one to another. In others were fountains, with channels of marble that made a labyrinth. The sultan's stables were about a league from the town, and could contain one thousand horses, each in an arch twelve feet asunder. The communication between the palace and stables was kept up by means of a causeway, with a wall on each side, and a stone bridge carried over a pomegranate garden, from one hill to another. There was at that time, when Christian slaves and captives were exceedingly numerous at Mekinez, a convent built, and supported at the expense of the King of Spain, for their relief when ill.

Mekinez was of small note before Abu-l-Mazir Mulai Ishmael chose to build his palace there, for though, according to Leo Africanus, it was, about two hundred years ago, a place of considerable trade and riches, it had since been ruined by civil wars. The reason of Mulai Ishmael's preference to Mekinez over Fez and Morocco was, that being Al Kaid of the former at the time that his brother Mulai Aran set up in Tafilelt, vulgo, Tafilet, "the abode of the Fileli" (Berber), and his nephew Mulai Hamet had been proclaimed at Morocco, and having vanquished these claimants to the crown, he made this place the seat of empire. Having

further, during the course of a very long reign, succeeded in capturing Mehdiyah, or Mamorah, in 1681, and Al Araish in 1689, from the Spaniards, he further filled the magazines of his vast palace with a number of arms, saddles, gold, silver, jewels, and other such as had never before been in the possession of the Moor. At Mamorah he captured eightyeight pieces of brass cannon, fifteen of iron, ammunition of all sorts, more than he had in his whole dominions before, and a great prize of pearls and jewels. So burdened was the emperor with spoil and riches, that Windhus describes even the Kobbehs, or sanctuaries within the palace, as filled with goods of various descriptions, among which were presents from Christian princes, seven or eight coaches, and "in one of them were hung up the fine glass sconces that his Majesty King George had sent by the ambassador."

There were, at this time, at Mekinez, 1100 Christian slaves, of whom about 300 were English, 400 Spaniards, 165 Portuguese, 152 French, 69 Dutch, 25 Genoese, and 3 Greeks. Some of these had turned Muhammadans, thereby for ever losing hopes of redemption. The toleration of such a state of things by Christian nations, always jealous, and ever and anon at war with one another, was a disgrace to the age. The subjugation of Algeria has opened the way for a better state of things, and one way or another an empire of ignorance, despotism, bigotry, and intolerance must succumb under the ban of civilisation, or be supplanted.

The city of Fez is so named, according to Gräberg and others, from Fas, the Arabic for a pickaxe, because one was found in digging its foundations. Others derive it from Fetha, silver. It is no longer the marvellous city described by Leo Africanus, yet its industry, wealth, commerce, and population place it in the first rank of the cities of Morocco.

During the eighth century, the Arabs, masters of Tunis, of all Algeria, and the maritime cities of Morocco, seemed to think only of invading Europe and consolidating their power in Spain; but at this epoch a descendant of Ali and Fatima, Edris Ben Abdalluh, quitted Arabia, passed into Morocco, and established himself at Oualili, the capital, where he remained till his death, and where he was buried. His character was generally known and venerated for its sanctity, and drew upon him the affectionate regard of the people, and all instinctively placed themselves near him as a leader of the Faithful, likely to put an end to anarchy, and establish order in the Mussulman world. His son, Edris-BenEdris, who inherited his virtues and influence, offering a species of ancient prototype to Abd-el-Kader and his venerable father, Mahadin, was the first bona fide Mussulman sovereign of the Maroquine empire, and founded Fez.

Fez, however, is a most ancient centre of population, and had long been a famed city, before Mulai Idris gave it its present form in A.D. 807, or, according to others, in A.D. 793. The Spanish philologists, as Casiri and J. A Conde, make Fut of the prophet Nahum to be the same as Fez and Labim Lybia. The modern Medinatu-l-Beida, or white city, as it is also called by the Arabs, lies in a valley, and on the gentle slope of several hills by which it is surrounded, and whose heights are crowned with gardens, country-houses, and Kobbehs, or saints' tombs. Fez differs from Morocco and most other Moorish towns in its houses, which are generally of brick or stone, being of two, and sometimes even three, stories in

height. Many of them are also adorned with elevated towers, and are otherwise much decorated. The streets, as usual in hot countries, are very narrow, arched over in places, and Colonel Scott says some of them are a mile in length. The city is watered by the Wad-al-Jewahir, or river of jewels, a tributary to the Sebu, and which is artificially conducted to the different quarters and houses.

Fez contained in the time of Leo Africanus seven hundred mosques and one hundred public baths, and Richardson repeats the fact just as if it obtained in the present day. The most famous is the Karubin, said to contain many valuable Greek and Latin authors, and amongst others the lost books of Titus Livy. Ali Bey said of this renowned mosque that it appeared mean after the cathedral at Cordova. The university of Fez was once celebrated, but its high-minded orthodox mulahs are now succeeded by a fanatic and ignorant race of marabouts. The fanaticism of the people is shown in the notorious doggerel couplet, universally diffused throughout Morocco:

Ensara fi Senara,

El Hud fi Sifud.
Christians on the hook,

Jews on the spit.

The shops are numerous and well frequented. Nearly all the Jews reside in the Dar Jedidah, or new town, and which by its position domi-. nates the old one. The population, estimated once by its hundreds of thousands, is not supposed to amount in the present day to more than fifty thousand. The inhabitants are still distinguished by their fanaticism, and Richardson says that a European cannot walk in the streets unless disguised, or without an escort of troops.

Fez is surrounded by a high wall, but little calculated to resist aught but undisciplined Berbers. The city has also seven gates and two castles, but still it is everywhere commanded by accessible heights, and it could make little or no resistance to a European army.

Morocco, Marakesh, or, in vulgar Arabic, Maraksh, need not detain us here, as a visit to the southern capital is not included in the programme of the operations of the Spanish invading force; but of the two royal cities, Fez and Mekinez, Mr. Richardson sums up as follows:

The destinies of Fez and Mequinez are inseparable. United, they contain one hundred thousand inhabitants, the most polished and learned in the empire. Fez is the city of arts and learning; that is, of what remains of the once famous and profound Moorish doctors of Spain. Mequinez is the strong place of the empire, an emporium of arms and imperial treasures. Fez is the rival of Morocco. The two cities are the capitals of two kingdoms, never yet amalgamated. The present dynasty belongs not to Fez, but to Morocco; though a dynasty of Shereefs, they are Shereefs of the south, and African blood flows in their veins.

The sultan generally is obliged to give a preference to Fez for a residence, because his presence is necessary to maintain the allegiance of the north country, and to curb its powerful war party, his son in the mean while being left governor during his absence. But all these royal cities are on the decline, the " sere and yellow leaf" of a well-nigh defunct civilisation. Morocco is a huge shell of its former greatness, a monster of Moresque dilapidations. France may awaken the slumbering energies of the population of these once flourishing and august cities, but left to themselves they are powerless, sinking under their own weight and uncouth encumbrances, and will rise no more till reconstructed by European hands.

It must be remarked that this was written in the time of the late sultan, Mulai Abd'erraman. The present sultan, his successor, Sidi Muhammad, appears, as far as can be judged, to have a predilection for Fez, which has long been the seat of his government, over Morocco.

Such is the country and such are the people whom the Spaniards have before them. Progress has as yet been very different from what was laid down in the programme.

On the landing of the first corps on November 19th, under General Echague, at Ceuta, positions were taken up in front of that place at the so-called Serrallo, or Seraglio. The Anjera tribe, masked by the thick cover at the foot of the Sierra Bullones, contented themselves with skirmishing at first, but, having received reinforcements, they attacked the Spanish front with great bravery on the 25th, and again on the 30th, but they were as gallantly repulsed, not, however, without loss on both sides. On the 2nd of December the Sherif Sidi-al-Hag arrived with further reinforcements, and on the 9th a determined but unsuccessful attack was made on the redoubts Isabella II. and Francisco de Asis. The whole of the Spanish invading army being by this time concentrated at Ceuta, the different divisions have been enabled to operate so as to keep the Moors in check on the one hand, notwithstanding several determined attacks on their part, one of which, marked by peculiar resolution, occurred on the 20th of December, and to open communication in the direction of Tetuan, which it is supposed will be the next station previous to forcing the passes of the Sierra Bullones, and the sea communication with which has been so much facilitated by the destruction of the forts at the mouth of the river by the French.

The activity of the French, who have also occupied the island of El Rey (one of the three composing the Zafferines), is so great on the coast, that it would be very difficult to say what complications may not arise out of the present war unless arrested at an early period. We have the word of the Spanish minister that the idea of a permanent occupation of Tangiers is not entertained at the present moment; but how many changes in objects and intentions may arise during the progress of a sanguinary war instead of as originally planned-a mere military promenade? How many impediments have already arisen in the projected quick embarkation and hasty landing of the army of invasion, and how little has the very first portion of the programme-six days for forming the columns of advance-been carried out? It will be the same with every step taken by the Spanish forces, and it would be very difficult indeed to foretel the complications that may yet arise, or which may indeed have been long foreseen by France and Spain as likely to arise, and to lead to new territorial and political arrangements in the land of the Moor.