MAROCCO.
The city of Marocco is situated in a fruitful plain, abounding in grain, and all the other necessaries of life, and depastured by sheep and cattle, and horses of a superior breed, called (Sift Ain Toga) the breed of Ain Toga. At a distance, the city has a beautiful and romantic appearance, the adjacent country being interspersed with groves of the lofty palm, and the towering snow-topped mountains of Atlas, in the back-ground, seem to cool the parched and weary traveller reposing in the plains; for although none
“Can hold a fire in his hand,
“By thinking on the frosty Caucasus;”
Shakspeare.
yet, in the sultry season, the traveller, by viewing these mountains, experiences an agreeable sensation, difficult to be described. The lily of the valley, the fleur-de-lis, lupins, roses, jonquils, mignonet, jasmines, violets, the orange and citron flowers, and many others, grow here spontaneously; and in the months of March and April, the air in the morning, is strongly perfumed with their grateful and delicious odours. The fruits are, oranges of the finest flavour, figs of various kinds, water and musk melons, apricots, peaches, and various kinds of grapes, pears, dates, plums, and pomgranates.
The city of Marocco was founded in the 424th year of the Hejira[56] (1052) by Jusuf Teshfin, of the family of Luntuna, a tribe of Arabs inhabiting the plains east of Atlas, on the way to Tafilelt; and in the time of his grandson, Aly ben Yusif, it is said to have contained a million of inhabitants; latterly, however, it has been much depopulated, and owing to the devastations of succeeding conquerors, retains little of its ancient magnificence; the accumulated ruins of houses and gardens within the town, which were once the sites of habitations, indicate its decay. It is surrounded by extremely thick walls, formed of a cement of lime and sandy earth,[57] put in cases, and beaten together with square rammers. These walls were in many places broken and decayed, so that horses might pass through them; but the breaches were repaired previous to the siege and capture of the city by Muley Yezzid, in February, 1792. Some of the houses are built with much elegance and taste, but being all behind high walls, they are not visible from the street; and these outer walls are of the rudest construction, for every individual here is anxious to conceal his wealth, and to impress the public and the State with an idea that he is poor and distressed!
The imperial palace of Marocco, which faces Mount Atlas, is built of hewn stone, ornamented with marble. It is not so magnificent a building as that of Mequinas; the architecture of the principal gates is Gothic, embellished with various ornaments in the Arabesque taste; the walls of some of the rooms are of filligree-work, and others of (ezzulia, or) glazed tiles, similar to the Chinese tiles, which are fixed in the walls with much art, and have a cool effect. Three gardens are attached to the palace, the first and largest is called Jinen el Erdoua, the second Jinen el Afia, and the third, which is the smallest, and situated at a private door, Jinen Nile, or the Garden of the Nile, so named from its containing the fruits and plants of the Nile, Timbuctoo, and Soudan, with many others, the produce of Barbary. In the two former of these gardens, the Emperor allows the foreign merchants to pitch their tents whenever they visit him, which is generally every time he goes to Marocco, and in the Jinen Nile they have their audience of business, that is, the second audience, the first being an interview of ceremony, and the third, an audience of leave to depart. The two first gardens abound with olives, oranges, grapes of various kinds, apricots, peaches, pomgranates, water-melons, citrons, limes, &c.; these, however, are surpassed in richness by the Jinen Nile, the orange trees of which are small, but very fruitful, and the flowers extremely odoriferous; the roses, in particular, are unequalled, and matrasses are made of their leaves for the men of rank to recline upon. In these gardens are (Kobba) pavilions about forty feet square, with pyramidal roofs covered with glazed tiles of various colours, and lighted from four lofty and spacious doors, which are opened according to the position of the sun; they are painted and gilt in the Arabesque style, and ornamented with square compartments containing passages from the Koran, in a sort of hieroglyphic character, or Arabic shorthand, understood only by the first scholars. As the luxury and convenience of tables, chairs, and curtains are unknown in this country, the furniture of these apartments is very simple, consisting of a couple of sofas or couches, some china, and tea equipage, a clock, a few arms hung round the walls, a water-pot, and carpets to kneel upon in prayers. Here the Emperor takes coffee or tea, and transacts business with his courtiers.
The grand pavilion in the middle of the enclosure is appropriated to the women; it is a very spacious building, and fitted up in the same style of neatness and simplicity as the others.[58]
Near to the palace is (the M’shoar, or) Place of Audience, an extensive quadrangle, walled in, but open to the sky, in which the Emperor gives audience to his subjects, hears their complaints, and administers justice.
In Marocco are many temples, sanctuaries, and mosques; of these, the most curious is one in the middle of the city, called Jamâa Sidi Yusif, built by a prince named Muley el Mumen, on the site of one erected by Sidi Yusif, which the former destroyed with a view to obliterate the latter prince’s name; in this, however, he was disappointed, for though he expended great sums in the erection of the present building, and called it after himself, for the purpose of transmitting his own name to posterity, yet the people continued to call it by the old name, which it retains to the present time.
There is another mosque, said to have been built by Muley el Monsore;[59] the body of it is supported by many pillars of marble, and under it is a (mitfere) cistern, which holds a large quantity of water, collected in the rainy season, and used by the Mohammedans for their ablutions. The tower is square, and built like that of Seville in Spain, and the one near Rabat already described;[60] the walls are four feet thick, and it has seven stories, in each of which are windows, narrow on the outside, but wide within, which renders the interior light and airy: the ascent is not by stairs, but by a gradually winding terrace composed of lime and small stones, so firmly cemented together as to be nearly as hard as iron. On the summit of the tower is a turret in the form of a square lantern, hence called (Smâa el Fannarh) the Lantern Tower, which commands a most extensive prospect, and from whence Cape Cantin, distant about 120 miles, is distinctly visible. The roofs of the different chambers in this building, which are all quadrangular, are very ingeniously vaulted: and indeed the whole workmanship is of the most excellent kind. Prayers are performed here every Friday in presence of the Emperor. That part of the city adjoining this edifice is quite a heap of ruins.
There is another tower in the city, which may be mentioned, from the circumstance of its having three golden balls on its top, weighing together, it is said, 10 quintals, equal to 1205 lbs. avoirdupois. Several kings, when in want of money, have, it is said, attempted to take them down, but without success, as they are very firmly and artfully fixed; the superstitious people say they are fixed by magic, that (jin) a spirit guards them from all injury, and that all those who have attempted their removal, were soon after killed.[61] There is a tradition, that the wife of Muley el Mumen, desirous of ornamenting the temple built by her husband, caused these globes to be made of the gold melted down from the jewels which the king gave her.
At the extremity of the city, towards the Atlas, and near the imperial palace, is the department for the Jews, called El Millah, the gates of which are shut at night: these people have an Alkaid appointed over them, to whom they apply for protection against insult: they pay a certain tribute or poll-tax, (called Elgazia), to the Alkaid; they are for the most part rich; but from motives of policy, under this despotic government, they endeavour to appear poor, miserable, and dirty. Not more than two thousand Jewish families now reside here, great numbers having been induced, from various causes, to emigrate to the adjacent mountains, where they are free from taxation.
In this quarter stands the Spanish convent, which, till lately, was inhabited by two or three friars; but it is now deserted.
The Kasseria, or department for trade, is an oblong building, surrounded with shops of a small size, filled with silks, cloths, linens, and other valuable articles for sale. Here the people resort to transact business, hear the news, &c. much in the same manner as is done on the exchanges of European towns; and independent gentlemen, who have no occupation at court, often hire one of these shops, merely for the purpose of passing the morning here in conversation on politics, and other subjects.
The principal gates of Marocco are the Beb El Khumise and Beb Duquella; the former takes its name from a market called Soke El Khumise, or the fifth day’s market, or Thursday’s market, where horses, cattle, and all kinds of merchandize are bought and sold; the latter, or Duquella Gate, takes its name from the province of that name. Besides these, there is the Gate of the Millah, the Gate of the Luksebba, or palace, and two or three other gates.
The city of Marocco is supplied with water from numerous wells and springs amongst the different olive plantations, and the rich procure it from the river Tensift, which flows at a short distance from the city: this water is very salubrious, and anti-bilious, and is drank in cases of indigestion. There is also a subterraneous aqueduct built of brick, which surrounds the town, twenty feet below the surface, and from which, at about every hundred yards, pipes of brick-work branch off, and convey the water into the different houses; over each of these branches are excavations from the surface, through which persons descend to repair any injuries below; but this aqueduct is now much neglected, and out of repair.
This city being now on the decline, little can be said of its cleanliness; the streets are mostly filled with ruins of houses which have gone to decay; and in the Millah, or Jews’ quarter, heaps of dung and other filth are seen, as high as the houses. The Moors, however, from a natural desire of cleanliness, in which the Jews are scandalously deficient, pay more attention to the streets in which they reside. The houses of the Alkaids, Shereefs, or nobles, and other military officers, are lofty, spacious, and strongly built, with a turret in the middle, or on one side, where the women take the air, and pass the evening in fresco. The rest of the houses being almost all old, they swarm with vermin, particularly bugs, which, in the summer season, are literally a plague, the walls being covered with them; at this period also, the inhabitants are much annoyed with scorpions, which are frequently found in the beds, and other places;[62] to these may be added the domestic serpent, but this is rather considered as an object of veneration, than a nuisance.[63]
The air about Marocco is generally calm; the neighbouring mountains of Atlas defend the plain in which it stands from the scorching Shume, or hot wind (which blows from Tafilelt and Sahara), by arresting its progress, and the snow with which they are always covered, imparts a coolness to the surrounding atmosphere; in summer, however, the heat is intense, though the nights during that period are cool; in winter the cold is very sensibly felt: but the climate is altogether extremely healthy. The inhabitants, particularly the Jews, are, however, affected with ophthalmia.
On the death of Aly ben Yusif, a private individual named El Meheddi, a man of ambitious character, sprung up in the Atlas mountains, and levying a large army, proceded to Marocco, and laid siege to the town, which was then commanded by Muley Bryhim, successor to Aly ben Yusif, who collecting his forces, marched out to give El Meheddi battle; but being completely overpowered and defeated, he fled to Imsmise in the Atlas east of Marocco. El Meheddi not satisfied with his escape, ordered his general in chief to pursue him with one half of his numerous army, whilst he took possession of Marocco with the other; the general pursued the King so closely, that he arrived immediately after him at Oran, where the latter, finding no support, and being driven to despair, mounted his horse in the night, and placing his queen behind him, rode out of the place, and clapping spurs to the horse, passed over a precipice, and was, together with his queen, dashed to pieces. His body being discovered, the general, who was a prince, and named Muley el Mamune, returned with the army to the city of Marocco, where, on his arrival, finding El Meheddi dead, and succeeded by his son, he attacked the city, and after a year’s siege took it; irritated at being so opposed, he put El Meheddi’s son to death, and a dreadful massacre of the army and citizens ensued, after which he was proclaimed Sultan and Amer el Mumenine,[64] and established the first Diwan, which consisted of ten men learned in the Arabic language, and in the laws of the Koran. This El Mamune’s posterity reigned at Marocco from the 516th to the 668th year of the Hejira,[65] and then were dispossessed by a king of the tribe of Marin, whose posterity reigned with despotic sway till the year 785 of the Hejira.