benefactor," a tributary to the Wad Ulkos. This valley is green and fertile, and well peopled with Arabs, with several kobbehs of dazzling white, and embosomed in wild olive and fig plantations. The bridge known as Al Kantarah, par excellence, is still in a state of good preservation. This is the scene of the great action fought between the Moors and Portuguese in 1578, in which Don Sebastian lost his life. Steele has commemorated the heroism of Mulai Moluk, then king of Morocco; but tradition has it that he died immediately previous to the victory, which was won by one Mirwan, and who was repaid for his success by the loss of his life. He had gained too much renown to be tolerated by the powers that were. Don Sebastian, according to the Portuguese legend, was translated, and has the privilege of reappearing. Hence, a tradition in the great church of Bellem, near Lisbon, modestly records:

Hoc jacet in tumulo, si fama est vera, Sebastes.

"With their prince Don Sebastian," says Richardson, "perished the flower of the Portuguese nobility and chivalry of that time. War, indeed, was found a dangerous game' on that woful day both for princes and nobles, and many a poor soul was swept away,

Floating in a purple tide.

But the trade of war' has been carried on ever since, and these lessons, written in blood, are as useless to mankind as those dashed off by the harmless pen of the sentimental moralist."

The Wad Ulkos, the Luccos of our maps and the river of Al Araish, is a rapid yellow stream, about one hundred yards in width, but much wider at its mouth, where, according to Lemprière, it spreads out to nigh half a mile. This river was known to the ancients as the Lix (Ptol.), Lixa, Lixus, and even Linx and Lynx. Pliny says: "Colonia a Claudio Cæsare facta Lixos, vel fabulosissime antiquis narrata. Ibi regia Antæi, certamenque cum Hercule: et Hesperidum horti." In the Periplus of Hanno it is called the great river Lixus, and the people are alluded to as the Lixitæ. Such allusions, at all events, attest the fertility and importance of the valley and neighbouring colony from the most remote antiquity. The same is likewise attested by the coins, of which there are five classes, all Phoenician; although the colony was then under Roman rule, the vineyard riches of this part of ancient Mauretania being represented on some by two bunches of grapes; so that, after nearly three thousand years, the place has retained its peculiarity of producing abundant vines, Al Araish being "the vine trellises." Others have stamped on them two ears of corn and two fishes, representing the fertility of the land in grain, and of the river in the well-known shebbel, or Barbary salmon.

The Arabs call Al Araish, or Larache, Al Araïsh, Beni Aros, or the vineyards of the Beni Aros, a powerful tribe, who populate the greater part of the district of Azgar, of which it is the capital. Azgar is the name of a Tuwarik, or Berber tribe, and Richardson remarks that probably one of the tribes of Tuwariks were resident here at a very early period; but Azgar also signifies a bull, and again, it corresponds to the Arabic bahira, and signifies a plain-Azgari being used for pasture-grounds for cattle. According to Marmel, Azgar also signifies a country abandoned by the sea.

Al Araish, according to Mr. Richardson, contains a population of 2700 Moors, and 1300 Jews. The houses, the same traveller remarks, are substantially built; and the fortifications are good because built by the Spaniards, who captured this place in 1610, but it was retaken by Mulai Ishmael in 1689. The climate is soft and delicious. It exports cork, wool, cotton, charcoal, skins, bark, beans, grain, and fruit, and receives in exchange iron, cloth, cottons, muslins, sugar, and tea. The Moors have become much addicted to the use of the latter beverage.

Al Araish was, indeed, once the most important commercial port on the coast, but the accumulation of alluvium and sand at the mouth of the river caused it to decline. It was bombarded by the French in 1765 for acts of piracy and insults to the national flag. The town is situated upon an easy ascent from the sea, and it possesses a fort and two batteries, said to be in tolerable repair. The streets are paved, and there is a decent market-place with stone piazzas. The agreeable windings of the river, and the gardens, orchards, and groves of palm and orange-trees, with which the town is surrounded, give to it a peculiarly pleasing appearance.

Higher up the river, and on its northern bank, is Al Kasr Kebir, or the great castle originally founded by the renowned Al Mansur "the victorious," who designed it as a magazine and place of rendezvous for his troops during the great preparations he was making for the conquest of Granada, and still a tolerable large and populous town, surrounded by old and ruinous walls of herring-bone brickwork and tapia, battlements, loopholes, and small square towers, fifty paces apart, and about a mile and a half in circumference. The streets are narrow, and at intervals arched across, and the houses are remarkable for having ridged roofs of tile. There were originally fifteen mosques, but few of these are now in use. The bazaar (Al Kaiseriya) contains only a few mean shops; the soks, or markets, and funduks, or inns, are deserted and lifeless. The population is about 8000, of whom about 500 may be Jews. The town is surrounded by orchards and gardens of orange, pomegranate, and palm, in great luxuriance.

Proceeding from Al Kasr to the south-westward, or from Al Araish along the sea-shore, the great plain of Mamorah-and which is said to stretch eighty miles inland-is alike reached. At its head are the ruins of a site called Old Mamorah, with the cape designated as Mulaï-abuSellum, i. e. Father ladder, or, My Lord Busellum. Close by is an extensive lagoon, and, beyond, a castle in ruins, now called Dar-el-Kurisi, "cold or bleak house," but said by Lemprière to be called after a Moorish noble who was put to death there. On these plains Arab villages change into Duwars, or circular encampments of from twenty to thirty tents, and there are very numerous Kobbehs: more ancient tumuli also abound. The plains, being rich in verdure, afford abundant pasturage, and trees group together naturally, so as to give them a park-like

appearance.

Passing Ain-el-felfel, or pepper-spring, the traveller comes upon another and still greater lagoon, twenty miles long by one and a half broad, and of fresh water. It is called Morshah Ras-ud-Daura, or the lake or morass of the round cape, a low sandy cape on the Atlantic (Murja Ras-ed-Doura, or lake with the winding head, of Captain Wash

ington). This fine sheet of water abounds with water-fowl and fish, especially eels. The soil is light and sandy, and the herbage coarse, with dense growths of annuals, which in this prolific country attain an elevation of ten feet, with stems five inches thick. There are numerous Duwars and Kobbehs along the shores, but few trees, and there are also several islands on the lake decorated with sanctuaries-insular spots being here, as elsewhere, sacred to holy purposes.

This lake is separated by a low ridge of sandstone from the Wad Sebu, or "mountain river," the ancient Subur, which winds, in the boldest sweeps imaginable, through a rich and varied plain as far as the eye can reach. It is about four hundred yards wide at its mouth, with a bar of sand, nearly dry at low-water spring tides. On the southern bank of the river, situated on a height of about ten feet, and distant one mile from the sea, is the town of Mehdiyah, commonly written Mehedia, and also called Nuova Mamorah. According to Marmel, this town was built by Yakub-al-Mansur "the victorious," to defend the embouchure of the river. It was captured by the Spaniards in 1614, and retaken by the Moors in 1681. The Corsairs used formerly to take refuge here, as also at Al Araish. When in the possession of the Spaniards, this was a place of some consequence, as the ruins of handsome fountains, arches, and churches, attest; its fortifications were respectable; a double wall, if not a ditch on the south-western side; a long, low battery defended the beach and entrance of the river, and the citadel commanded the whole. The town now contains only from 300 to 400 inhabitants, chiefly fishermen, who subsist by the sale of shebhel, or Barbary salmon, which is caught here in great abundance. Water communication exists between this city and Fez, but is not taken advantage of. The ruins of a third Mamorah are met with some twenty miles up the river. It is possible that this particular Mamorah represents the site of the ancient colony called Banasa, and which is described by Pliny as on the river Subur, "amnis, magnificus, et navigabalis."

Mehdiyah is situated on the same extensive plain as old Mamorah, with fertile pastures, expanding lakes, winding rivers, and verdant plantations, diversified by the encampments and whitewashed sanctuaries of the nomadic Arabs, and their flocks and herds. "What a delightful residence," exclaimed old Lemprière, "it would be if the country had not the misfortune to groan under an arbitrary and oppressive government ?" The way from Mehdiyah to Sala (fifteen miles) lies in great part along a vale, towards which the hills slope gently on each side; there is a small lake to the right, tenanted, like the other, by the splendid Boch Hhamar, or "red goose," nearly as large as a swan. To the north is the great forest of Mamora (Ghabah-dha-l-Belut, or forest of oaks), of unknown extent. The only traveller who appears to have passed through it, Don Juan Badia, better known as Ali Bey, describes it as a wood of holm oak, almonds, lentiscs, and large willows, through which he journeyed in a few hours. It gives shelter to many wild beasts, among which boars are the most numerous, and lions the least so. Richardson only gives this forest an extent of sixty acres, but that was from hearsay. Within a quarter of a mile from Sala is an aqueduct, with remarkably thick and high walls and three fine archways. The natives assert it to have been built many years ago by the Moors, but others, with greater

probability, declare it to be of Roman origin. The name of Sala, or Sallee, as it is more generally called, is famous in piratical history. The Sallee rovers were long the terror of the mercantile world. Equally dreaded for their valour and their cruelty, the adventurers who navigated these swift and formidable vessels depopulated the ocean, and even dared sometimes to extend their devastations to the Christian coasts. Sala is a very ancient city. It is noticed by Pliny, Ptolemy, Pomponius Mela, and others, as being on the river of the same name. It was captured as far back as in 1263 by Alphonso the Wise, King of Castille, who was a short time after dispossessed of his conquest by the King of Fez; and the Moorish sultans have kept it to the present time, though the city itself has often thrown off the imperial yoke. In 1646, Mulai Zidan engaged the fleet of King Charles I. of England to attack the place by sea while he invested it by land. It was thus reduced, the fortifications demolished, and piracy, for the time being, suppressed. There is a curious letter extant of this Mulai Zidan to King Charles, which would attest that the Moorish sultan was in advance of his age, for he earnestly supplicates the king to join him in attacking Tunis, Algiers, and other places, "dens and receptacles for the inhuman villanies of those who abhor rule and government."

Sala, albeit now the seat of the government arsenals, is a fallen, ruinous, lifeless place. The present town, built on a sandy point, extending to the sea, and forming the north-eastern bank of the river Abu Rakrak, is about half a mile in length by a quarter in breadth, surrounded by walls thirty feet high, and square towers every fifty paces. Its defences were a long battery of twenty guns facing the sea, a round fort at entrance of the river, and a gun or two on the gates. No doubt better preparations will be made in time of war, but not such as might be effective in repelling an invasion. The mosques, arches, and fountains show traces of beautiful sculpture, and of great antiquity. The streets are narrow, and houses sombre, like all Moorish towns. One traveller speaks of an immense dreary dungeon underground, in which the pirates once placed their captives-maidens and men, whose memories have decorated many a plaintive ballad. Richardson speaks of this place as follows:

The modern Salee is a large commercial and well-fortified city of the province of Beni-Hassan. Its port is sufficiently large, but, on account of the little depth of water, vessels of large burden cannot enter it. The houses and public places are tolerably well built. The town is fortified by a battery of twentyfour pieces of cannon fronting the sea, and a redoubt at the entrance of the river. What navy the Maroquines have is still laid up here, but the dockyard is now nearly deserted, and the few remaining ships are unserviceable. The population, all of whom are Mahometans, are now, as in Corsair times, the bitterest and most determined enemies of Christians, and will not permit a Christian or Jew to reside among them. The amount of this population and that of Rabat is thus given:

Salee.

Rabat.

but it is probably greatly exaggerated.

A resident of this country reduces the population of Salee as low as two or

three thousand.

Sala is separated from Rabat by the river Abu Rakrak, or "Father of Ripples," vulgo, Bu Regreg, the Wad Burugreb of Captain Washington's map, and the Bouragreg of Richardson. This river is about five hundred yards broad at its mouth when full. The bar, about one-eighth of a mile from the entrance, runs almost across in a west-south-west direction, with three or four feet on it at low water, leaving a channel at each end; the Moors use the eastern; the rise of tide is nine or ten feet; inside, the harbour is quite sheltered, with water for a frigate, and here is the imperial dockyard, which, with the presence of a corvette or two, three or four small traders, and the ferry-boats that ply between Sala and Rabat, give an unwonted animation to the scene.

Rabat the inn or monastery-stands on the south-western side of the river, fifty or sixty feet above its level, on banks of crumbling sandstone. As seen from the opposite shore, Captain Washington says, the grouping of minarets, palm-trees, ruined walls, and old mosques, crowned by its venerable and battlemented Kasbah, across a broad, full river, is very picturesque. A curtain of five hundred yards facing the sea, flanked by two circular batteries of twelve guns each, about as many more in the Kasbah or citadel, and a small battery overlooking the river at the south-western end of the town, constitute, according to the same competent authority, its sea defences. On the land side there is a strong wall, thirty feet high, square towers every fifty paces of tapia work, and angles of masonry. The town itself extends three-quarters of a mile in length, by one-third in breadth, and walled orchards of about two hundred acres reach along the banks of the river towards the ruined mosque and lofty tower, one hundred and fifty feet in height, called by the Moors Sauma'ah (pronounced Sma') Hasan. Although only one hundred and fifty feet in height, this conspicuous object stands in reality two hundred and twenty feet above the level of the river; and hence Count Gräberg describes it as being two hundred and fifty feet high, and it forms a most useful landmark in making the port. There are ten mosques within this great town, besides the mausoleum of a sultan and that of the hero of Moorish Africa, the mighty Al Mansur. The main street of the town, which runs parallel to the river, contains the principal shops, but they are described as not being very attractive; the markets, however, are abundantly supplied with vegetables and fruit; orange orchards, vineyards, and other plantations, including cotton, abounding around, and the fruits are excellent, being grown on a light sandy soil. The Moorish population is estimated at 18,000, the Jews at 3000. The Jewesses are the prettiest in the empire, but the Millah, a quarter in which they dwell, is not rendered inviting by cleanliness.* Formerly the Europeans had numerous and extensive factories here, and wool, leather, cotton, wax, and fruits may still be abundantly procured.

One mile south-east of Rabat are the ruins, according to Captain

"I was introduced," says old Lemprière," to one family in particular, where, out of eight sisters, Nature had been so lavish to them all, that I felt myself at a loss to determine which was the handsomest. A combination of regular features, clearness of complexion, and expressive black eyes, gave them a distinguished pre-eminence over their nation in general; and their persons, though not improved by the advantages which the European ladies derive from dress, were still replete with grace and elegance."