where the Moslem schoolman prepared his theology and the other branches
of strange learning which, to the present day, make up the curriculum of
the Mahometan university. The medersa is an adaptation of the private
house to religious and educational ends; or, if one prefers another
analogy, it is a _fondak_ built above a miniature mosque. The
ground-plan is always the same: in the centre an arcaded court with a
fountain, on one side the long narrow praying-chapel with the _mihrab_,
on the other a class-room with the same ground-plan; and on the next
story a series of cell-like rooms for the students, opening on carved
cedar-wood balconies. This cloistered plan, where all the effect is
reserved for the interior facades about the court, lends itself to a
delicacy of detail that would be inappropriate on a street-front; and
the medersas of Fez are endlessly varied in their fanciful but never
exuberant decoration.
M. Tranchant de Lunel has pointed out (in "France-Maroc") with what a
sure sense of suitability the Merinid architects adapted this decoration
to the uses of the buildings. On the lower floor, under the cloister, is
a revetement of marble (often alabaster) or of the almost indestructible
ceramic mosaic.[28] On the floor above, massive cedar-wood corbels
ending in monsters of almost Gothic inspiration support the fretted
balconies; and above rise stucco interlacings, placed too high up to be
injured by man, and guarded from the weather by projecting eaves.
[Illustration: _From a photograph from the Service des Beaux-Arts au
Maroc_
Sale--interior court of the Medersa]
The private house, whether merchant's dwelling or chieftain's palace, is
laid out on the same lines, with the addition of the reserved quarters
for women; and what remains in Spain and Sicily of Moorish secular
architecture shows that, in the Merinid period, the play of ornament
must have been--as was natural--even greater than in the medersas.
The Arab chroniclers paint pictures of Merinid palaces, such as the
House of the Favourite at Cordova, which the soberer modern imagination
refused to accept until the medersas of Fez were revealed, and the old
decorative tradition was shown in the eighteenth century Moroccan
palaces. The descriptions given of the palaces of Fez and of Marrakech
in the preceding articles, which make it unnecessary, in so slight a
note as this, to go again into the detail of their planning and
decoration, will serve to show how gracefully the art of the mosque and
the medersa was lightened and domesticated to suit these cool chambers
and flower-filled courts.
With regard to the immense fortifications that are the most picturesque
and noticeable architectural features of Morocco, the first thing to
strike the traveller is the difficulty of discerning any difference in
the probable date of their construction until certain structural
peculiarities are examined, or the ornamental details of the great
gateways are noted. Thus the Almohad portions of the walls of Fez and
Rabat are built of stone, while later parts are of rubble; and the touch
of European influence in certain gateways of Meknez and Fez at once
situate them in the seventeenth century. But the mediaeval outline of
these great piles of masonry, and certain technicalities in their plan,
such as the disposition of the towers, alternating in the inner and
outer walls, continued unchanged throughout the different dynasties; and
this immutability of the Moroccan military architecture enables the
imagination to picture, not only what was the aspect of the fortified
cities which the Greeks built in Palestine and Syria, and the Crusaders
brought back to Europe, but even that of the far-off Assyrio-Chaldaean
strongholds to which the whole fortified architecture of the Middle Ages
in Europe seems to lead back.
[Illustration: _From a photograph from the Service des Beaux-Arts au
Maroc_
Marrakech--the gate of the Portuguese]
FOOTNOTES:
[27] The "deacon" or elder of the Moslem religion, which has no order of
priests.
[28] These Moroccan mosaics are called _zellijes_.
IX
BOOKS CONSULTED
Afrique Francaise (L'), Bulletin Mensuel du Comite de l'Afrique
Francaise. Paris, 21, rue Cassette.
Bernard, Augustin. Le Maroc. Paris, F. Alcan, 1916.
Budgett-Meakin. The Land of the Moors. London, 1902.
Chatelain, L. Recherches archeologiques au Maroc. Volubilis.
(Published by the Military Command in Morocco.)
Les Fouilles de Volubilis. (Extrait du Bulletin Archeologique,
1916.)
Chevrillon, A. Crepuscule d'Islam.
Cochelet, Charles. Le Naufrage du Brick Sophie.
Conferences Marocaines. Paris, Plon-Nourrit.
Doutte, E. En Tribu. Paris, 1914.
Foucauld, Vicomte de. La Reconnaissance au Maroc. Paris, 1888.
France-Maroc. Revue Mensuelle, Paris, 4, rue Chauveau-Lagarde.
Gaillard. Une Ville d'Islam, Fez. Paris, 1909.
Gayet, Al. L'Art Arabe. Paris, 1906.
Houdas, O. Le Maroc de 1631 a 1812. Extrait d'une histoire du Maroc
intitulee "L'Interprete qui s'exprime clairement sur les dynasties
de l'Orient et de l'Occident" par Ezziani. Paris, E. Leroux, 1886.
Koechlin, Raymond. Une Exposition d'Art Marocain. (Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, Juillet-Septembre, 1917.)
Leo Africanus, Description of Africa.
Loti, Pierre. Au Maroc.
Migeon, Gaston. Manuel d'Art Musulman. II. Les Arts Plastiques et
Industriels. Paris, A. Picard et Fils, 1907.
Saladin, H. Manuel d'Art Musulman. I. L'Architecture. Paris, A.
Picard et Fils, 1907.
Segonzac, Marquis de. Voyages au Maroc. Paris, 1903. Au Coeur de
l'Atlas. Paris, 1910.
Tarde, A. de. Les Villes du Maroc: Fez, Marrakech, Rabat. (Journal
de l'Universite des Annales, 15 Oct., 1 Nov., 1918.)
Windus. A Journey to Mequinez. London, 1721.
INDEX
Abdallah-ben-Aissa, 59
Abd-el-Aziz, 256-258
Abd-el-Hafid, 209-211, 258
Abd-el-Kader, 255
Abd-el-Moumen, 30, 243, 244
Abou-el-Abbas ("The Golden"), 152, 153
Abou Hassan, 245, 246
Abou-Youssef, 245
Agdal, olive-yards of the, 139
Ahmed-Baba, 152
Ahmed-el-Hiba, 211, 212
Aid-el-Kebir, the, 164-170
Aissaouas, the, of Kairouan, 48
dance of, 52
Algeria, French conquest of, 254-256
Almohads, the, invasion of Morocco by, 243-245
architecture of, 265, 268
Almoravids, the, invasion of Morocco by, 241-243
destruction of architecture of, 265, 268
Andalusian Moors, the, mosque of, 101, 102, 240, 268, 269
Arabs, conquest of Morocco by, 239-241
Architecture, Moroccan, four basic conditions of, 266
four groups of, 270
of the Almohad dynasty, 268
of the Cherifian dynasties, 269
of the Merinid dynasty, 269, 274, 275
the Saadian mausoleum, 155
the collegiate building, 273-275
the fortress, 276
the mosque, 270-273
the private house, 275
Art, Moroccan, sources of influence on, 104, 262-265
disappearance of treasures of, 86, 87
and Moorish art, 269
Ba-Ahmed, builder of the Bahia, 129, 256, 257
Bab F'touh cemetery, at Fez, 102-104
Bahia, the, palace of, at Marrakech, 129-133
apartment of Grand Vizier's Favourite in, 131
Bazaars, of Fez, 91, 107-109
of Marrakech, 135-138
of Sale, 24, 25
Beni-Merins. _See_ Merinids
Berbers, the, attack of, on Fez, 210, 211
origins of, 232
dialects of, 234
nomadic character of, 234, 235
heresy and schisms of, 239
Bernard, M. Augustin, 69, 234, 235, 239, 251
Black Guard, the Sultan's, 164-167
uniform of, 176
Moulay-Ismael's method of raising, 44, 67-69
Blue Men of the Sahara, the, 112
Bou-Jeloud, palace of, 80, 81, 83
Bugeaud, Marshal, 255
Carthage, African colonies of, 236, 237
Casablanca, exhibitions at, 219
port of, 222, 223
Catholics, in Morocco, 248, 249
Cemetery, El Alou, 17, 18
Bab F'touh, 102-104
Chatelain, M. Louis, 46
Chella, ruins of, 28-30
Cherifian dynasties, the, 247, 251
architecture of, 269
Children, Moroccan,
in the harem, 194
negro, 43, 44, 199-201
training of, for Black Guard, 67-69
Chleuh boys, dance of, 148
Christians, captive, and the building of Meknez, 69, 70, 73
religious liberty to, in Africa, 248, 249
Clocks, in Sultan's harem at Rabat, 172, 173
Cochelet, Charles, his "Naufrage du Brick Sophie," 250
Colleges, at Fez, 97-100, 105-107
at Sale, 19-22, 25, 26
Moslem, 225
architecture of Moroccan, 273-275
Colors, of North African towns, 50
Commerce, Moroccan, 223
Conti, Princesse de, 59
Convention of Fez, the, 209
Courts of Justice, Moroccan, 224
Crowds, Moroccan street, 161, 162
Culture, in North Africa, 104-106, 246, 267
Dance, of Chleuh boys, 148
of the Hamadchas, 48, 49, 51-57
Dawn, in Africa, 37
Djebilets, the, 125
Doutte, M., 264, 268
Dust-storm, at Marrakech, 145-147
Education, in Morocco, 225, 226
Elakhdar, mosque of, 62
El Alou, cemetery of, 17, 18
El Andalous, mosque of, 101, 102, 240, 268, 269
Elbali (Old Fez), 88 _et seq._
harems of, 188-196
Eldjid (New Fez), 77, 80
palaces of, 84-87
founding of, 245
El Kairouiyin, mosque of, 80, 83, 93, 95-100, 240, 263, 268, 269
the praying-hall of, 98
the court of ablutions of, 99, 100
legend of the tortoise of, 97
El-Ksar, 11, 12, 152
El-Mansour, Yacoub, 16, 30-33
Elmansour, palace of, 63
Empress Mother, the, 177, 178
English emissaries, visit of, to Meknez, 71-73
Exhibitions, planned by General Lyautey, 219-221
Ezziani, chronicler of Moulay-Ismael, 60, 61, 64, 66, 67, 70
Fatimites, the, 240, 241
Fez, the approach to, 77
unchanged character of, 78
ruins of Merinid tombs of, 78, 79
the upper or new, 80
old summer-palace at, 80-83
night in, 82, 116-119
antiquity of, 83
palaces of, 84-87
the inns at, 86, 94, 116, 117
streets of, 88-91
a city of wealth, 90
the merchant of, 90
bazaars of, 91, 92, 107-109
a melancholy city, 92, 109
twilight in, 93
the shrines of, 93
mosque of Moulay Idriss at, 94, 95
mosque of El Kairouiyinat, 95-100
the University of, 97, 100, 101
Medersas of, 99, 105-107, 274
mosque of El Andalous at, 101, 102
Bab F'touh cemetery of, 102-104
the potters of, 103
art and culture of, 104-106, 247
the Mellah of, 113
harems of Old, 188-196
the Convention of, 209
uprising in, 210
attack of Berbers on, 211
exhibitions at, 219
Moslem college at, 225
founding of, 240
Almoravid conquest of, 242
centre of Moroccan learning, 247
Catholic diocese at, 248
massacres at, 258
Fez Elbali, 88 _et seq._, 188-196
Fez Eldjid, 77, 80, 83-87, 245
Fondak Nedjarine, the, at Fez, 94
Fortifications, Moroccan, architecture of, 276
Foucauld, Vicomte de, 110, 249
Franco-German treaty of 1911, 212
French Protectorate in Morocco, 209-222
work of, 222-227
French, conquests in Morocco, 254-256
at Fez, 258
Furniture, disappearance of Merinid, 86, 87
Ghilis, the, 125
Gouraud, General, 211
Hamadch, tomb of, 49, 56
Hamadchas, the, ritual dance of, 48, 49, 51-57
Harem, in old Fez, 188-196
an Imperial, 170-181
in Marrakech, 197-205
in old Rabat, 182-187
Hassan, Sultan, 129, 245, 246, 256
Hassan, tower of, at Rabat, 31, 32
Hassanians, the, rule of, 253-258
Holy War, the, against France, 255,
against Spain and Portugal, 248-250
Hospitals, in Morocco, 226, 227
Houses, Moroccan, architecture of, 266, 275
color of, 50
plan of, 20
rich private, 86, 106
Ibn-Toumert, 243, 268
Idriss I, 94, 239
Idriss II, 61, 80, 83, 94, 240
Idrissite empire, the, 240, 241
Inns, Moroccan, 86, 94, 116, 117
Jews, of Sefrou, 113-116
treatment of North African, 114
Kairouan, the Alissaouas of, 48, 52
Great Mosque of, 93, 95, 272
Kairouiyin, mosque of. _See_ El Kairouiyin
Kalaa, ruins of, 264
Kenitra, port of, 38, 223
Koechlin, M. Raymond, 268
Koutoubya, tower of the, 127, 128
Lamothe, General, 218
Land, area of cultivated, in Morocco, 224
Louis XIV, and Moulay-Ismael, 58, 59, 70
Lunel, M. Tranchant de, 106, 274
Lyautey, General, 23, 149, 150
at Sultan's court, 179
appointed Resident-General in Morocco, 210
military occupation of Morocco by, 211, 212
policy of, 213 _et seq._
economic development of Morocco achieved by, 218-222
summary of work of, 222-226
Maclean, Sir Harry, 144
Mamora, forest of, 14
Mangin, General, 212
Mansourah, mosque of, 150
Market, of Marrakech, 144
in Moulay Idriss, 49
of Sale, 26, 27
of Sefrou, 111-113
Marrakech, the road to, 123-126
founders of, 128, 129, 242
tower of the Koutoubya at, 127, 128
palace of the Bahia at, 129-133
the lamp-lighters of, 133
mixed population of, 134
bazaars of, 135-138
the "morocco" workers of, 137
olive-yards of, 139
the Menara of, 139, 140
a holiday of merchants of, 140-142
the Square of the Dead in, 143-145
French administration office at, 144
fruit-market of, 144
dance of Chleuh boys in, 148
Saadian tombs of, 149, 154-158, 252
a harem in, 197-205
taken by the French, 212
Catholic diocese at, 248
Chapel of the Tombs at, 270
Medersa, the, of the Oudayas, 19-22
Attarine, 99
at Fez, 99, 105-107
at Sale, 25, 26
architecture of, 273-275
Mehedyia, Phenician colony of, 38, 237
Meknez, building of, 57-64, 69, 70
the Kasbah of, 62
palaces of, 63
stables of, 63
entrance into, 64
ruins of, 64-66
sunken gardens of, 72
visit of English emissaries to, 71-73
Mellah, of Fez, 113
of Sefrou, 113-116
Menara, the, in the Agdal, 139, 140
Mequinez. _See_ Meknez
Merinids, the, tombs of, at Fez, 78, 79
conquest of Morocco by, 245-247
architecture of, 269, 274, 275
Mirador, the Imperial, 170-181
Moorish art, 269
Mosque, of Elakhador, 62
of El Andalous, 101, 102, 240, 268, 269
of El Kairouiyin, 80, 83, 93-100, 240, 263, 268, 269
of Kairouan, 93
of Mansourah, 150
of Rabat, 32
of Tinmel, 243, 268
of Tunisia, 96
architecture of Moroccan, 270-273
Moulay Hafid, 81
Moulay-el-Hassan, 129, 256
Moulay Idriss I, rule of, 239
tomb of, 94
Moulay Idriss II, tomb of, 61, 80, 83, 94
rule of, 240
Moulay Idriss, Sacred City of, 5, 39, 45-57
Street of the Weavers in, 47
feast of the Hamadchas in, 48-57
market-place of, 49
whiteness of, 50
founding of, 240
Moulay-Ismael, and Louis XIV, 58, 59, 70
exploits of, 60-62
mausoleum of Moulay Idriss enlarged by, 61
Meknez built by, 62, 63, 69, 70
the Black Guard of, 44, 67-69
description of, 71
palaces of, 72
and English emissaries, 72, 73
death of, 73, 74
rule of, 253
successors of, 254
Moulay Youssef, 180, 181, 258
Nedjarine, fountain and inn of, 94
Night, in Fez, 116-119
Oases, Moroccan, 109, 110
Marrakech, 127 _et seq._
Sefrou, 110 _et seq._
Settat, 124
Oudayas, the, Kasbah of, 16, 17
Medersa of, 19-22
Palaces, Moroccan, the Bahia, 129-133
Bou-Jeloud, 80-83
at Fez, 80-87
at Meknez, 63
of Moulay-Ismael, 72
Phenicians, the, African explorations of, 236, 237
Pilgrimage to Sale, a, 41
Population, Moroccan, varied elements of, 89, 134
Ports, Moroccan, 222, 223
Portugal, the Holy War against, 248-250
Pottery, Berber, 264
Potters' Field, the, 104
Rabat, 15, 16
Tower of Hassan at, 31, 32
ruins of mosque at, 32
called "Camp of Victory," 33
Sacrifice of the Sheep at, 163 _et seq._
Sultan's harem of, 170-181
visit to a harem in old, 182-187
exhibitions at, 219
port of, 223
Moslem college at, 225
Central Laboratory at, 226
Railways, Moroccan, built by French Protectorate, 224
Rarb, the, 38, 44
Roads, Moroccan, built by French Protectorate, 224
Romans, the, African explorations of, 237, 238
Saadian Sultans, the, history of, 151-153
tombs of, 149, 154-158, 252
rule of, 247-252
Sacrifice of the Sheep, the, 164-170
Saint-Amand, M. de, 58
Saladin, M. H., his "Manual of Moslem Architecture," 233, 261, 271
Sale, first view of, 14
type of untouched Moroccan city, 23, 24
bazaar of, 24, 25
Medersas of, 19-22, 25, 26
market of, 26, 27
colors of, 50
Schools, in Morocco, 225, 226
Sedrata, ruins of, 264
Sefrou, 110-116
market-place of, 111-113
men and women of, 112, 113
Jewish colony of, 113-116
Senegal, 152
Settat, oasis of, 124
Sheep, sacrifice of the, 164-170
Sidi-Mohammed, 254
Slaves, Moroccan, 171, 191, 199-201
trade in white, 250
_Sloughi_, bronze, at Volubilis, 46, 87
Soudan, 152
Spain, the Holy War against, 248-250
Spanish zone, the, German intrigue in, 213, 218
Stables, of Meknez, 63
Stewart, Commodore, 71
Street of the Weavers (Moulay Idriss), 47
Streets, Moroccan, 47, 88-91, 161, 162
Tangier, 3-8
colors of, 50
taken by the French, 255
Tetuan, bronze chandelier of, 87
Timbuctoo, the Sultanate of, 152
Tingitanian Mauretania, 237
Tinmel, ruins of mosque at, 243, 268
Tlemcen, the conflict for, 245, 246
Touaregs, the, 236
Tower, of Hassan, 31, 32
of the Koutoubya, 127, 128
Tunisia, Almohad sanctuary of, 96
Vandals, the, African invasion by, 238
Veiled Men, the, 236, 241
Versailles and Meknez, 58
Villages, "sedentary," 43
Volubilis, ruins of, 44-46
bronze _sloughi_ of, 46, 87
founded by Romans, 237
Wedding, Jewish, procession bringing gifts for, 108
Windus, John, 70-72, 250
Women, Moroccan, dress of, 51, 52
of Sefrou, 112, 113
of the harems, 187-189
in Sultan's harem, 173-175
in harems of Old Fez, 188, 192-194
in harem of Marrakech, 202-204
in harem of Rabat, 184-187
negro, 43, 191
Yacoub-el-Mansour, 16, 30-33, 244
Youssef-ben-Tachfin, 242
* * * * *
_BY EDITH WHARTON_
THE GREATER INCLINATION
THE TOUCHSTONE
CRUCIAL INSTANCES
THE VALLEY OF DECISION
SANCTUARY
THE DESCENT OF MAN
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
THE FRUIT OF THE TREE
THE HERMIT AND THE WILD WOMAN
TALES OF MEN AND GHOSTS
ETHAN FROME
THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY
XINGU
* * * * *
IN MOROCCO
FIGHTING FRANCE
ITALIAN BACKGROUNDS
A MOTOR FLIGHT THROUGH FRANCE
ARTEMIS TO ACTAEON
THE DECORATION OF HOUSES
_CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS_