The graves in the Jewish Cemetery are sometimes not unlike the anthropoid sarcophagi of the Phœnicians (comp. p. [347]).
The old Portuguese Watch Tower at Kilallin affords a superb panorama.
The mouth of the River Martín, which is much choked with sand, forms the harbour of Tetuán, but sea-going vessels have to anchor in the open roads. The trade of the place is unimportant.
A coast-road was constructed by the Spaniards during the Morocco campaign, connecting Tetuán with Ceuta (23 M.), but now only a track remains. It leads at first through the coast-plain at the E. base of Jebel Dersa (see above), and then, beyond the Cabo Negro or Cape Negron (886 ft.; Arabic Râs et-Tarf), skirts the fertile spurs of the Anjera Mts. Beyond the Moroccan frontier guard-house, we enter Spanish territory, protected by a chain of block-houses, and skirt the E. slope of the Jurassic Sierra Bullones or Apes’ Hill (2809 ft.; Arabic Jebel Mûsa, i. e. Hill of Moses), where apes abound. This is the highest peak of the Anjera Mts. and was famed in antiquity as one of the pillars of Hercules (p. [54]).
Ceuta (several small Spanish inns; no photographing allowed), Arabic Sebta, a town of 10,000 inhab. (of whom 3000 are soldiers), the only important Spanish possession in Morocco besides Melilla (p. [124]), lies on a narrow, flat tongue of land between a spur of the Sierra Bullones, crowned with the white tomb of a saint, and the strongly fortified peninsula of Almina, which culminates in the Monte del Acho (637 ft.). Originally Phœnician, it became a Roman colony, under the name of Ad Septem Fratres (later Septon or Septa Emporia), and in the middle ages was the most important and prosperous seaport of N. Morocco. In 1169 it was the seat, of a Genoese trading station, and in 1415 it fell into the hands of the Portuguese, from whose time date the ruins of Ceuta la Vieja (old Ceuta). Since 1580, in spite of repeated attacks by the Moroccans (1694–1720, 1732), it has remained in the uninterrupted possession of Spain, and it now presents a sadly decayed appearance. The tunny and sardine fisheries here are very thriving.
14. From Tangier to Mogador by Sea.
411 M. Steamboats. 1. Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. (see RR. 5, 4, 3; often full all the way from London), every other Friday, viâ Casablanca, Mazagan, and Saffi to Mogador in 5 days (agents at Tangier, Eug. Chappory; at Casablanca and Saffi, Murdoch, Butler, & Co.; at Mazagan, J. de Maria; and at Mogador, R. Yuly & Co.).—2. Oldenburg-Portuguese Line fortnightly to Mogador, calling at intermediate ports (agents at Tangier and Larash, Renschhausen & Co.; at Rabât, Weickert & Enke; at Casablanca and Saffi, Lamb Bros.; at Mazagan, Ch. Balestrino; at Mogador, Borgeaud, Reutemann, & Co.).—3. N. Paquet & Co. (p. [120]), Monday evenings (returning on Frid.), to Rabât, intermediate ports, and Mogador in 4 days.—4. Vapores Correos de Africa twice monthly to Mogador viâ, Larash, Rabât, Casablanca, Mazagan, and Saffi in 5½ days. There are also the small cargo-boats of the Genoese Servizio Italo-Spagnuolo, of Rius & Torres of Barcelona, and others. The small boats of the Bland Line ply between Tangier and Larash once or twice weekly. The Canary Line of the Compañía Trasatlántica touches once monthly at Tangier (if required also at Casablanca and Mazagan).—Landing and embarkation in lighters at most of the intermediate ports is often impracticable for weeks together, especially in winter. Harbours are in course of construction at Larash and Casablanca, and one at Saffi is projected.—Tangier, Rabât, Casablanca, and Mogador have wireless telegraph stations.
Along the Ocean Seaboard of Morocco (about 835 M. to Cape Juby) navigation is often impeded by gales, sandbanks, and fogs. The seaports lie mostly at the mouths of rivers or in small and shallow open bays.
The Steamers round the sandstone rocks of Cape Spartel (p. [102]) and steer to the S.W., at some distance from the land, above which in clear weather are seen the Rîf Mts., with the Jebel Habib (2990 ft.) and the Jebel Mulaï Abd es-Slam (p. [102]).
In the coast-plain of El-Gharbia we next observe, on a terrace abraded by the sea, the decayed little seaport-town of Arzila, the Phœnician Zilis, Rom. Colonia Zilis Constantia, with a ruinous town-wall of the Portuguese period.