Course S.E. by S. 40 miles; road gradually ascends, about two hundred feet,, through a broken hilly country of clay-slate, on to the plain of Smira, extending about twelve miles; then again ascends two hundred feet on to a second plain, seventeen miles in extent, named
Peira - basis, of clay-slate; soil at times sandy, then decomposed slate; many stones ; fragments of quartz ; flints ; much agate embedded in crystallized quartz ; some very beautiful specimens ; and covered with palmetto and coarse herbage ; with a thorny tree, about twenty feet high, bearing a dark yellow berry, called sidra nebach, the rhamnus infectorius, (or yellow-berried buckthorn.) Encamped at the foot of a range of bills, varying from five to twelve hundred feet in height ; schistose, with veins of quartz; strata in a north by cast and south by west direction, dip 750 ; and forming the northern boundary of the plain of Marocco; during our ride across these two plains, not a hut to be seen except at our night's encampment, and but one spring of water ; herds of gazelles and wild boar.
Itinerary, 26th day , December 9.
Course S. by E. 12 miles; ascending about two hundred feet, between bills of micaceous schist ; torrent bed fringed with Spanish broom, sidra nebach, and acacia ; road stony , boulders of iron, stone, &c., and flints. On debouching from this rocky defile the imperial city, with its buildings, its mosques, its minarets, and lofty tower, in a large plain, in the midst of a forest of palms, backed by the eternal snows of Atlas, rising to the height of eleven thousand feet, and brought forward in striking relief from the deep blue sky behind them - burst on our view. While we gazed with delight on this beautiful prospect, our Moorish leader, on first sight of Marocco, halted his troops, and one and all offered up prayers for the health of the sultan their master, and thanksgiving for the happy termination of their journey ; encamped for the night under the shade of the palm trees ; the contrast striking between this emblem of tropical and burning {135} climes, and the snowy mountains now rising almost immediately above our heads ; at sunset many of the peaks still lighted up, while all below lies, buried in one mass of shadow.
Itinerary, 27th day, December 10.
Cross the river Tensift, at Al-Kantra, a bridge of thirty pointed arches, and continue over a perfectly level plain, through a forest of palms, towards the city; accompanied by the sultan's guards, all in white clothing, and the whole of the troops and male population of Marocco, not less than forty thousand persons ; spirited charging of cavalry; firing of guns and crackers; barbarous music ; incessant shouting; bawling, and piercing screams of women ! in short, suffice it to say, every honour that could be offered attended us as we advanced. - At high noon - at the moment the white flags were waving from, the summits of the minarets, and the loud and deep voice of the Mueddin was heard from the lofty towers of the mosques, calling on the faithful Musselims to acknowledge that there is no God but one God, and that Mohammed is his Prophet. - did we unbelieving Nazarenes enter the imperial city of Marocco. An abrupt turn brought us to our quarters, in a vast garden, 'at once silent, shaded, verdant, and cool, and where we were at full liberty to take our repose.MAROCCO.
The plain of Marocco extends in an east and, west direction, between
a low range of Schistose bills, to the north, and the lofty Atlas to
the south, about twenty-five miles wide, and apparently a dead flat
to the foot of the mountains, which rise abruptly to the height of eleven
thousand feet, their peaks covered with snow. This plain, which has no
limit as far as the eye can reach east or west, lying about fifteen hundred
feet above the level of the sea, the soil of a light sandy loam, with numerous
rolled stones, of crystallized quartz, agates, flints, porphyry, a green
stone, cornelions, &c, &-c., is, generally speaking, covered with
low brushwood of the thorny plant called sida nebach, or buckthorn
; the banks of the streamlets, fringed with oleanders in great beauty,
while to the north of the city is a forest of palm-trees and olives. The
river
Tensift, springing from the northern hills
about forty miles eastward of the city, flows along at their base about
four miles north of Marocco, and joined by several streamlets from Atlas,
reaches the Atlantic fifteen miles, south of Saffy, nearly one hundred
miles distant; the river is shallow, but rapid ; the channel here
about three hundred yards wide, but fordable, except in the spring,
in almost all places. The
City of Marocco, lying on the northern side
of this rich plain, is surrounded by a strongly built, machicolated wall
of tapia-work , {136} thirty feet high,(2)
-with foundations of masonry ; square towers about every fifty paces ;
the whole nearly six miles in circuit, entered by eleven strong double
gates. But this vast area is far from being generally covered with buildings
; it comprises large gardens, and open spaces, from twenty to thirty acres
in extent; the Sultans
Palace stands on the south of the city, facing
the Atlas, outside the main wall ; but enclosed within walls of equal strength,
is a large space of about fifteen hundred yards long, by six hundred. wide,
divided into squares laid out in gardens, round which are detached pavilions,
forming the imperial residence ; the floors of the rooms tessellated with
various coloured tiles ; otherwise quite plain ; a mat, a small carpet
at one end, and some cushions, form the furniture.
Mosques within the city are nineteen, two
emdrasas or colleges, and one hospital ; the principal, of these called
El Koutubia, stands alone in a deserted space
of twenty or thirty acres, conspicuous above all by its lofty square, tower,
rising to the height of two hundred and twenty feet, without diminishing,
thus producing a striking and singular effect - divided into seven stories,
and its height apparently about seven times its diameter ; this tower is
similar to, and said to be coeval with the Smaa Hassan at Rabbatt,
and the Giralda at Seville, built towards the end of the twelfth century.
(Only be it remembered that the present superstructure of the tower of
Seville is Saracenic, and raised by Christians on the Moorish foundations
in the thirteenth century.) On the summit of the tower is a small turret
in the shape of a lantern, whence it derives the name Sma el Fanar.
The, body of the mosque, though large, is an irregular building, and
insignificant when contrasted with the lofty tower by which it is surmounted.
Beni Yusef, next in height, and in age, though,
modernized and well painted, has a college of talebs (or seekers,
i.e. students) attached to it ; a saints tomb stands opposite its
south door, formed of three arches, surmounted by a cupola, delicately
wrought with rich Saracenic tracery.
E1 Moazin, said to be the most ancient.,
is very large, and has several courts opening into each other; the Moorish
horseshoe arches highly sculptured, intersecting in various directions,
have a rich effect ; attached to this mosque are gates, said to be those
of Seville, the triumph of the mighty Al Mansor.
Bel Abbas,
patron saint of the city ; mausoleum : sanctuary ; mosque, and
hospital containing one thousand five hundred patients. Its style of building,
a pavilion, surmounted by a cupola covered with green and varnished tiles.
{137}Emdrasa del-Emsha. - College and mosque, stands near the
south wall of the city; here are the sepulchres of the sultans of the Moluc
Sadia dynasty, once adorned with statues and busts, now, thanks to the
bigot of a rigid Moslem emperor, entirely effaced.
Fountains. - Several of these have traces of delicate sculpture, especially one near the mosque El Moazin, called
Shrub-u-Shoof, ('drink and admire,') which has a cornice of white marble, shewing evident remains of former beauty.
Gates. - Of the eleven gates of the city, now open, that entering the palace, called
Bab e'Rom, is by far the best specimen of architecture to be seen; a Moorish horseshoe arch, (which, however false in principle, is not unpleasing to the eye,) richly sculptured in Arabesque work, in, imitation of shoe-nails, &c. &c. : its name would imply that it was the work of Europeans, or - of Romans! the same word being used for both.
Streets of Marocco are narrow and irregular, seldom wider than lanes in Europe, in many cases connected across by arches and gates, possibly as a defence in case of attack ; several open spaces, which cannot be called squares, used as market-places, &c. ; the
Houses, usually one story, flat roof and terrace, the side towards the street plain and whitewashed; here and there a narrow opening, not deserving the name of a window, none of which are glazed ; but the interior disposition is much like the Spanish ; rooms opening into a court, sometimes surrounded with arcades, and a fountain in the centre; many of the doors of cypress-wood, highly sculptured ; the rooms long and narrow, owing probably to their want of timber; no windows, no fires, no furniture, except a mat and a cushion or two.
AI Kaisseria; or Bazaar, is a long range of shops, or rather stalls, covered in from the weather, and divided into compartments ; exposed for sale, were silk scarfs, shawls, and handkerchiefs, from Fas; Sulhams, haicks; gellabas, and carpets, from Ducaila; cloth, linen, hardware, tea and sugar, from London! almonds, raisins, 'hhenna, and al kohol, from Suse; very fine corn, caravances, beans, &c., from Shragna; very luscious dates, from Tafilet ; and abundance of boots, slippers, saddles, coarse pottery, mats, cord, &c., of domestic manufacture ; and embroidery in gold and silver, in which they particularly excel.
Markets. -There are two or three; the principal is called
Sok el Khamsie, held near the north gate of the city, and, as its name denotes, on a Thursday; well supplied with home manufactures; outside the gate is the market for camels, horses, mules horned cattle, sheep, &c., but no great show ; not much bustle except in the sale of horses, which is by auction - the auctioneer {138} pacing the animal rapidly to and fro, and vociferating the last price named.
Tan-yard. - Visited, and thoroughly examined a large one, said to employ one thousand five hundred persons! Great want of order and arrangement ; the process of dyeing was gone through for our satisfaction, and, in spite of dirt and slovenliness, a bright yellow colour was produced which is considered inimitable in Europe.
The Millah or Jews quarter, is a walled enclosure of about a mile and a half in circuit, at the south-eastern angle of the, city; populous but filthily dirty; all the Jews pay a capitation tax to the sultan, and are treated with the greatest contempt; we were, offered for sale by the Scheik of the Jews and a Rabbi, the only copy of the New Testament in Hebrew and Spanish, the last relic of the Spanish hospicio that once existed within these walls. Mohammedanism, with its withering influence, reigns undisturbed. Population cannot exceed one hundred thousand, perhaps not above eighty thousand, including five thousand Jews ; the women rarely showing themselves in the streets makes it difficult to estimate, but here are traces of a much greater population. The dreadful plague, and more dreadful famine, that visited this country a few years since, have committed fearful ravages; not half the space within the gates is now inhabited; ruined walls and tenantless houses meet one at every turn; nothing flourishes but vegetation which, even in the months of December and January, is rife, and luxuriant - its springing freshness forming a striking contrast to the mouldering walls around.Adqueducts . -Extensive under-ground aqueducts surround the town; some ten or twelve feet deep, but chiefly in ruins; they reach across the plain to the foot of Atlas, in many cases twenty, miles in extent; evident signs of a move numerous population, and far greater cultivation, of the arts.
Cemeteries - Several large cemeteries outside the walls, both to the north and south, but especially to the east of the city is one upwards of a hundred acres in extent ; war, plague, and famine, have thickly tenanted them.
Gardens. - The sultan has three large gardens, of about fifteen acres in extent, within the city, and two of about twenty acres each two miles distant from the walls, through all which we rode.
Jenan en Nil, so called from the abundance of water with which it is supplied, certainly not on account of containing the productions of the country of the Nile, as it has no exotics whatever.(3)
Jenan el Afia (or prosperity), destined to the use of the sultanas.
Jenan el 'Hassira, remarkable for its fine grapes, about two miles east of the city.
{139} Semelalia, about two miles to the north-west of the Ducaila gate; fine olive plantations; and the residence of Don Juan Badia during his stay in this country in 1804.
The quarters allotted to the British mission during its residence of a month in Marocco was one of the sultans gardens, at the south-west angle of the city, called
Sebt el Mahmonia, covering an extent of fifteen acres, planted in the wilderness style, with every variety of fruit-tree - olive, orange, pomegranate, citron, mulberry, walnut, peach, apple, pear, vine, &c.; with cedar, poplar, acacia, rose,. myrtle, jasmin - forming a luxuriant and dense mass of foliage only broken by the solemn cypress and more stately palm, and through which nothing was to be seen but the snowy peaks of Atlas rising almost immediately above our heads, and the tall tower of the principal mosque distant about a quarter of a mile. Nought but the playfulness of gazelles, and the abundant trickling of water in every direction, to break the stillness of this delightful spot, combining everything to be desired in a burning clime, - silence, shade, verdure, and fragrance.
| Edward Drummond-Hay's description of the Garden |
Viewed from Marocco, the snowy range of Atlas bounds the horizon from east to south-west. At this season of the year, (January, 1830) the transition immediate from the wooded to the snowy zone; -the formation inclines more towards sharp ridges and points than to Alpine peaks. The highest of these points, visible from the city, bore south-south-east, distant twenty-seven miles; two other remarkable masses, forming sugar-loaves, south-east by east and south- east called by the Moors Glaoui - a high ridge from south to south-east. It is remarkable that neither Moors nor Arabs have any distinguishing name for the Atlas. It is {140} usually called Djibbel Telj, or snowy mountains, or takes the name of the province or district, as Djibbel Tedla; Djibbel Misfywa. The word Atlas is not known: whence is it derived ? May it not be a Greek corruption of the Libyan or Berebber word, Adrar, or Athraer, signifying mountain? -Many of these heights were measured trigonornetrically, on a base of seventeen miles, the highest of which, named by the Moors
Miltsin, stands in the district called Misfywa, in latitude 310 12' N., 27 miles S., 200 E. of Marocco, and was found to be eleven thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea.
This is below the limit of perpetual snow assigned by Humboldt (Personal Narr, vol. i, p. 261 ) ; yet but once in twenty years had these summits been seen free from snow.
It is more than probable that these are not the highest summits of the
Atlas range, which will possibly be found in the province of Tedla,
about the source of the two great rivers Oom-erbegh and Mulwia,
which, from the best information. appear to spring from opposite sides
of the same mountain; but this is conjecture. Till measured in 1830, the
height of no snowy peak of Atlas was ever ascertained - at least none such
is on record - but there is on record a conjecture hazarded, as to their
height, by Mr. Jackson, and proved, by quotations from Asiatic Transactions, &c., to be correct. Jacksons statement is- 'that these mountains, which
lie south-east of Marocco, are seen at sea twenty miles to the westward
of Mogadore, and therefore at a distance of two hundred and forty-five
miles, and consequently must have an elevation of twenty-nine thousand.
six hundred and ten feet*.'(5) That these
peaks might be visible from Mogadore, from which they bear east by south
a hundred and twenty miles, is very possible ; but it so happens that
the highest peak visible from Mogadore bears southeast (true), and
consequently must be part of the range clearly in sight to the south-west
of Marocco, and distant only seventy miles from that place, and certainly
inferior in height to those peaks south-east of this city. Thus does a
distance of two hundred and forty-five miles dwindle to seventy, and the
unassuming but actual height of eleven thousand four hundred feet must
take the place of the astounding elevation of twenty-nine thousand six
hundred and ten feet!(6)
1. *The clear-sighted. people of this empire, it is believed, do not wish their country to be surveyed. They should not canonize so many of their idiots, or build so many saints' tombs ; for did an observer wish to select stations for a trigonometrical survey of their plains, nothing could have been better placed than these sanctuaries, and which it is a point of their religion to keep in good preservation.
4. But description is not sufficient. Happily a very correct outline of Atlas, a panoramic view of the city of Marocco, with many other characteristic and spirited sketches of scenery in that country, were made during our journey by a friend and intelligent fellow-traveller, Mr. W. H. Smith, R.A., and which sketches, it is hoped will soon be made public.
5. Jacksons Shabeeny, pp. 92, 3, and 4. London, 1820.
6. This is noticed to correct mistakes, not from a desire of criticising Mr. Jacksons work, which is unquestionably the most useful on this country. He spoke the Occidental Arabic, or Mo'greb, fluently, and without which no intimate knowledge can be gained, independently of the marked contempt evinced by the Moors and Arabs for those who do not speak their language.