Mogador (Hôt. Royal, English; Palm Tree Hotel, 2½ M. to the S. of the town, prettily situated, good; Brit. vice-cons., H. B. Johnstone; U. S. cons. agent, G. Broome; Engl. Church service), called in Arabic Es-Sueïra also, with 24,350 inhab., incl. 12,000 Jews and a good many French, English, Spanish, and other Europeans. The new town with its straight lines of streets was erected in 1760–70 under Sultan Mulaï Sidi Mohammed on the site of Mogator, which was destroyed in 1755 by the same earthquake as that of Lisbon. In 1844 the town was stormed by French marines.
Mogador lies in 31° 31′ N. lat. and 9° 60′ W. long., on a flat spit of land, bounded on the W. by a small lake, beyond which rises a great range of sand-hills, at places 427 ft. high and 3¼ M. in breadth. To the S.W. a chain of cliffs and the rocky islet of Mogador, the only island on the coast of Morocco, form the harbour, which is much exposed to the sea-winds. The N. entrance to the harbour, between the town and the island, is about 825 yds. broad and 45 ft. deep; the broad S. entrance, opposite the mouth of the Wâd Kseb, is only 13 ft. in depth. Mogador serves as a port for the adjacent provinces of Shiâdma (or Shedma), Haha, and Mtûga, as well as a mart for goods from the Sûs (see below). It is the stronghold of Judaism in Morocco, as the Jews control the inland trade with Marakesh, and it is only of late that they have had European rivals in the ocean traffic. The total exports and imports amount to about 17 million francs.
We land not far from the Harbour Battery, mounted with antiquated guns, and proceed first to the Kasba quarter, where the governor’s house, the chief mosque, a synagogue, and the Spanish church are situated. From the Meshwâr, the principal square in the Kasba, a broad street leads to the Medina, the Mohammedan quarter, where a number of Europeans and wealthy Jews also reside. Here, in the centre of the town, is the Sûk, famed for the native copper wares, besides various goods from Marakesh, which are sold there. Beyond the market, in the N.E. angle of the town, is the Mellah, an extremely dirty quarter, with narrow streets, inhabited by the poorer Jews.
From the Bâb Marâkesh, the S.E. gate, we may follow the conduit, at first along the embankment between the bay of the harbour and the lake, and then past the Kubba of Sidi Mogdul, the local saint, to the winding valley of the Wâd Kseb. Here rises a ruinous Palace of the Sultan, and beyond the sand-hills lies the sadly neglected Sultan’s Garden.
The finest point in the wooded inland region near Mogador, which abounds in game, is the valley of Aïn el-Hajar (‘rock-spring’), 15½ M. to the N.E. From the Bâb Asfi, the N.E. town-gate, the route leads past the Christian and the large Jewish cemeteries, and follows the Saffi caravan-track along the coast, where at low tide it is pleasanter to ride on the beach. After about 2 hrs. we cross the hill to the E., where in the extensive growth of underwood are seen numerous argan-trees (Argania sideroxylon), the kernels of whose fruit yield a table-oil resembling that of the olive.—From Aïn el-Hajar we may in clear weather ascend the Jebel el-Hadid (p. [109]), which rises to the N.; on the summit (2182 ft.) is a chapel dedicated to Sidi Yakûb, whence in the far distance we may descry the Great Atlas.
To the S. of Mogador lies the hilly region of Haha, skirting the base of the Great Atlas, and rich in olives and argan-trees, through which a rough caravan-route, running inland from Cape Tafetneh and passing Cape Gîr, leads to Agâdir (pop. 2500). This was formerly the seaport for the region of Sûs (p. [94]), and was even the goal of caravans from the Sudan district, but since the building of Mogador has lost all European trade. In the 16th cent. Agâdir, under the name of Santa Cruz, was the southmost possession of the Portuguese in Morocco.
V. SEA ROUTES IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN.
| Route | Page | |
|---|---|---|
| [15]. | From Gibraltar to Genoa | [111] |
| a. Through the Balearic Sea | [111] | |
| b. Viâ Algiers | [117] | |
| 16. | From Gibraltar to Naples | [118] |
| 17. | From (Lisbon) Tangier, and from Gibraltar, to Marseilles | [119] |
| 18. | From Tangier and Cartagena to Oran | [123] |
| 19. | From Marseilles to Oran | [126] |
| 20. | From Marseilles to Algiers, Bougie, Philippeville, and Bona | [126] |
| 21. | From Marseilles to Tunis | [128] |
| 22. | From Algiers to Tunis by Sea | [130] |
| 23. | From Marseilles to Naples | [132] |
| 24. | From Genoa to Naples | [134] |
| 25. | From Genoa to Tunis viâ Leghorn and Cagliari | [142] |
| 26. | From Naples to Tunis viâ Palermo | [146] |
| 27. | From Naples to Syracuse (Malta, Tunis, Tripoli) viâ Messina and Catania | [154] |
| From Messina to Syracuse, 158. |