From Tangier to Oran (301 M.). Mail steamers of the Navigation Mixte, every Wed. afternoon, in 52½ hrs. (fares, without food, 80 and 60 fr.), viâ Melilla and Nemours (returning viâ Beni-Saf, Nemours, Melilla, and Tetuán); also cargo-steamers viâ Málaga, Melilla, and Nemours, in 3–4 days, leaving Tangier every second Tuesday (Málaga Wed.). Also steamers of the Hungarian Adria (fare, without food, 30 fr.). Agents at Tangier, see p. [98]; at Málaga, p. [89]; at Oran, p. [176].
From Cartagena to Oran (132 M.). Comp. Générale Transatlantique every Tues. in 9 hrs. (fares, without food, 50 and 35 fr.; pier-dues at Cartagena 3 or 2 fr.; agent J. M. Pelegrin, Plaza de la Aduana 1; at Oran, p. [176]). This is the shortest sea-route to Algiers and is recommended to those who are bad sailors. Passport necessary.
Steering from Tangier (p. [98]) to the E.N.E. through the Straits of Gibraltar, the vessel passes Cape Malabata (p. [57]), Cape Alboasa, and the fine shore of the Cala Grande, to which the Rio de las Ostras descends from the Sierra San Simonito, a branch of the Anjera Mts. (p. [103]). In the little bay on the E. side of the Punta Alcázar, scarcely visible from the sea, lie the ruins of Ksar es-Serîr, a small seaport founded by Yakûb ibn Yûsuf (p. [61]), which prospered in the later middle ages, and belonged to the Portuguese from 1448 to 1540.
Off Cape Ciris (p. [5]) the steamer nears the abrupt slopes of the Sierra Bullones (p. [103]) and then passes the Isla del Peregil (243 ft.), which is overgrown with underwood and contains a large grotto (Grotta de las Palomas, visited from Ceuta). Beyond Cape Leona and the Bay of Benzus the region of Ceuta (p. [103]) is reached. Fine view of the bay of Algeciras (p. [56]) and the rock of Gibraltar to the N.
After passing the bay of Ceuta and the N. and E. headlands of the peninsula of Almina (p. [103]), the Punta Santa Catalina (p. [5]) and the Punta de la Almina (lighthouse), we obtain an admirable view of the Moroccan coast, extending from the Sierra Bullones (p. [103]) to the finely shaped Jebel Beni Hassan. In the centre, between Cabo Negro (p. [103]) and Cabo Mazari, is the deep depression of the plain of Tetuán (p. [102]), where the steamers of the Navigation Mixte call on their voyage to Tangier only.
The vessel now steers to the E.S.E. towards Cape Tres Forcas, quite apart from the Rîf Coast, a hill-region inhabited by the Ruâfa (sing. Rîfi) and still forming part of the Blad es-Siba (p. [96]). It lies between the Wâd Waringa, the river bounding the province of Tetuán, and Cape Tres Forcas. In the bay of Alhucemas rise the rocky islets of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and Islas de Alhucema, with two Spanish ‘presidios’. The Betoya, the stretch of coast with its numerous creeks between Cape Quilates, on the E. side of the Alhucemas Bay, and Cape Tres Forcas, was for centuries the favourite haunt of the Rîf pirates (p. [96]).
Beyond the wedge-like Cape Tres Forcas, the ancient Sestiaria Promontorium (Arabic Râs Wark), jutting out 12½ M. seaward, we sight the long coast-line of the Bay of Melilla, into which the steamers from Málaga, passing some 20 M. to the W. of the island of Alborán (p. [117]), steer direct.
Melilla (Hot. de Asia, Fonda la Africana, both at the harbour and plain), or Melila, a town of 9000 inhab., the only Mediterranean port on the Morocco coast besides Ceuta and Tetuán lies most picturesquely on the spurs of Monte Melila or Caramu (3235 ft.), a little to the N. of the marshy, fever-stricken mouth of the Rio del Oro. Its site is probably that of the ancient Rusaddir (p. [95]), where ended the great Roman military road, about 1430 M. long, which connected Carthage with Mauretania. Melilla is the oldest Spanish possession in Morocco, having been captured in 1496. In 1774 it was unsuccessfully besieged by a Moroccan army, and in 1893 it resisted an attack by the Berbers of the Rîf. Being a free port, it carries on a brisk trade with the coast-towns of the Algerian province of Oran, and many Moroccans from the interior embark here on their way to the harvesting in Algeria. The larger steamers anchor in the roads, which are tolerably sheltered from the W. winds only (landing or embarkation 50 c.). New harbour-works, however, are now under construction. The drinking-water of Melilla is not good.
Melilla consists of the small and tidy new town which has been built near the harbour since 1893 and contains a covered market, the shops of the Spanish-Jewish and Moorish tradesmen, and the promenade, and of the remarkably clean old town, enclosed by lofty walls, and occupying the nearly square plateau of a rocky headland. From projecting parts of the town-wall a fine view is obtained of the Fort Rosario, which is separated from the old town by the small Galápago Bay, and of the broad bay extending to the Chafarinas Islands (see below); in the background, beyond the Mar Chica or Lago de Puerto Nuevo (Arabic Sebkha Bu-Erg), a shallow lake 13 M. long, appears the lofty chain of Jebel Kebdana with the Monte de Tessan (3275 ft.).
Continuing our Voyage, we pass the Chafarinas Islands (French Iles Zafarines), occupied by the Spanish since 1848, which lie off the Cabo del Agua and form the only safe harbour on this coast as far as Oran. On the Isla Isabel Segunda, the central island, rises a lighthouse visible at a distance of 20 M.