the Arabs took possession of them. They are a patient, strong-featured, athletic people, accustomed to fatigue and hardships. Their villages are composed of huts, rudely constructed with mud, and are surrounded by walls; but in the upper parts of the mountains many live in caves. In general they wear only one garment, which is of woollen, without sleeves, and belted round the waist; a few add the hayk. They frequently go to the expence of sixty or eighty ducats, to ornament a musket with silver and ivory. They are excellent marksmen, and are very dexterous in twirling their muskets round, throwing them very high in the air, and catching them. Their employment consists principally in cultivating such ground as is capable of cultivation, attending their cattle, and hunting wild beasts. Like the Arabs, they have regular markets for the disposal of their cattle and the produce of their land. There are Jews, who reside in separate villages, where they are employed in the trifling commerce and mechanical operations which the Shelluhs require.

1

The personal safety of a guest is inviolate among these mountaineers. A chief, who inhabited the Atlas, having notice of the day on which the French merchants were, by the emperor's order, to leave Agadeer, and proceed towards Swerah, or Mogador, detached his people to plunder them in one of the defiles of the mountains. A heavy shower of rain obliged the merchants to halt, and, as it happened, near the house of this chief, and they began to unload their goods, and put them, under cover, in his dwelling. The chief came out to receive them, and said that he had placed 400 men in ambush, with a design to rob them; but

that, owing to the especial protection of the prophet, they had escaped this misfortune by taking shelter under his roof. The chief ordered the men already stationed for this enterprise to escort the merchants to Mogador, without requiring any re compence either for himself or them.

CHAPTER XX.

CITY OF MAROCCO.

THE city of Marocco is in latitude 31° 37′ north, in longitude about 7° 35' west, band is about ninety mile's to the eastward of Mogador, and 350 to the southward of Tangier. It is situated in a beautiful plain, which is bounded on the east and south by the Atlas. It is inclosed by remarkably strong walls, which are flanked by square towers, and surrounded by a wide and deep ditch; the walls are about eight miles in circumference; but a great part of the space they inclose is covered with ruins, or with gardens. The city has a number of entrances, large double porches, in the Gothic style; the gates are shut every night at a certain hour.

A stranger, passing through Marocco, would regard it as a miserable city; but wealth here conceals itself; and a house furnished with all the luxury of the east, may be hidden by the half ruined wall of its court yard. The streets are

■ Ali Bey. b Lempriere.

c Jackson.

d'Ali Bey.

CITY OF MAROCCO.

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very unequal, and the same street is in some parts broad, and in others narrow. The entries to houses of consequence are formed by lanes so nare row and crooked that a horse can with difficulty pass. Half a dozen men may defend one of these lanes, and the house becomes a castle. The houses, like all the others in the empire, consist of rooms, built on every side of a square court, each with a door opening to the court, but having no window. The principal houses have two, or more, of these courts; very few have windows towards the street.

The roofs are of terras, to appearance flat, but having an insensible declivity, which conducts the rain water, through pipes, into the subterraneous cistern. The moveables within consist chiefly of máts, carpets, a chest, a low table, and a bed which runs along one end of the room, and is concealed by a curtain.

* Every house in the city of Marocco has a serpent, or will retain one when it approaches, and food is left at night for it, by which it is gradually domesticated. These serpents are said to be very sagacious, and susceptible of kindness, and their presence is considered as a token of good fortune. They are not often visible; but they are some times seen crawling along the beams of the roof of an apartment, and they have been known to suck the breasts of women, while asleep. The feet of the bedsteads are frequently set in tubs of water, to avoid bugs and scorpions.

1

The Jews' quarter is about a mile in circumference. The Jews live in great filth; and the dunghills and ruins are, in some places, as high as the houses. The city of Maroksh, or Marocco,

e Jackson.

! Chenier. 5 Jackson.

h Ali Bey.

which once contained about 700,000 inhabitants, was said in 1795 to contain only 270,000; and in 1803 the numbers were said to be reduced, by war and pestilence, to 30,000. 15 duq z

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થરા

The Kassina is a part of the town where stuffs, and other valuable articles are exposed to sale. It is composed of a number of small shops, formed in the walls of the houses, about a yard from the ground, and of such a height within as just to admit of a man's sitting cross-legged. The goods and drawers are so arranged, that he reaches every article without moving, and serves his customers as they stand in the street. These shops, which are found in all other towns of the empire, afford a striking example of the indolence of the Moors. Here people resort, as to an exchange in Europe, to transact business and hear news; and independent gentlemen often hire one of these shops, and pass their mornings in it, for their

amusement.

T

A market is held at Marocco every Thursday, at which are sold prodigious numbers of horses, camels, and cattle, and great quantities of grain, fruit, and other articles. To these To these may be added slaves. The crier conducts these through the market, crying, occasionally, "Fifty dollars on the increase!" When he finds no farther advance in the price offered, he reports it to the owner, who either accepts it, or takes the chance of another market day, as he pleases.

o In Marocco is a tower with three golden balls. on its top, weighing, together, 1,205 pounds, avoirdupoise. Several emperors, when in want of money,

i Jackson. j Ali Bey. k Lempriere. J Jackson.

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have endeavoured to take them down, but with but success, as they are firmly and artfully fixed. It is said that they are guarded by a spirit; and it is probable that nothing less than the belief of su pernatural guardianship could have defeated human attempts to send them to the mint. Another tower in this city is seven stories high, and has walls four feet thick. The ascent is not by stairs, but by a winding road of hard cement, by which it is said that a horse may mount to the top. From the lantern, at the top, may be seen Cape Cantin, distant about 120 miles.

The minarets of the mosques are square, as broad at the top as at the base. On these are erected a smaller square, with a flag-staff, from which is suspended every day, at noon, a flag, the signal of preparation for prayers. Some of the mosques are paved with black and white marble, in alternate squares; some with glazed tiles, about two inches square, of blue, green, and white; and others are covered with terras, which is composed of lime and small stones, beaten down with wooden mallets. The mosques have no ornaments. The bplace where the Fakeer reads prayers is covered >with mats, or carpets; the rest of the floor, on which the people prostrate themselves, is bare, nexcept that some individuals have the skins of olions or leopards, finely dressed. On entering the mosque every man takes off his slippers.

m The Imauns, who regulate the prayers, and the Mueddens who give notice of the hours for their observance, work and pay taxes; and if one of these happen to be absent from the mosque, any

m Ali Beyda