Division of Morocco into kingdoms or States, and zones or regions.--
Description of the towns and cities on the Maroquine coasts of the
Mediterranean and Atlantic waters.--The Zafarine Isles.--Melilla.--
Alhucemas.--Penon de Velez.--Tegaza.--Provinces of Rif and Garet.--
Tetouan.--Ceuta.--Arzila.--El Araish.--Mehedia.--Salee.--Rabat.--
Fidallah.--Dar-el-Beidah.--Azamour.--Mazagran.--Saffee.--Waladia.
Morocco has been divided into States, or kingdoms by Europeans, although
such divisions scarcely exist in the administration of the native
princes. The ancient division mentioned by Leo was that of two large
provinces of Morocco and Fez, separated by the river Bouragrag, which
empties itself into the sea between Rabat and Salee; and, indeed, for
several centuries, these districts were separated and governed by
independent princes. Tafilett always, and Sous occasionally, were united
to Morocco, while Fez itself formed a powerful kingdom, extending itself
eastward as far as the gates of Tlemsen.
The modern division adopted by several authors, is--
Northern, or the kingdom of Fez. Central, or the kingdom of Morocco.
Eastern, or the Province of Tafilett. Southern, or the province of Sous.
Some add to this latter, the Province of Draha.
Then, a great number of districts are enumerated as comprehended in
these large and general divisions; but the true division of all
Mussulman States is into tribes. There is besides another, which more
approaches to European government, viz, into kaidats, or jurisdictions.
The name of a district is usually that of its chief tribe, and mountains
are denominated after the tribes that inhabit them. There is, of course,
a natural division, sometimes called a dividing into zones or specific
regions, which has already been alluded to in enumerating the natural
resources of Morocco, and which besides corresponds with the present
political divisions.
I. The North of the Atlas: coming first, the Rif, or mountainous region,
which borders the Mediterranean from the river Moulwia to Tangier,
comprising the districts of Hashbat west, and Gharet and Aklaia east.
Then the intermediate zone of plains and hills, which extends from the
middle course of the Moulwia to Tangier on one coast, and to Mogador on
the other.
II. The Central Region, or the great chain of the Atlas. The Deren [17]
of the natives, from the frontiers of Algeria east to Cape Gheer, on the
south-west. This includes the various districts of the Gharb, Temsna,
Beni Hasan, Shawia, Fez, Todla, Dukala, Shragno, Abda, Haha, Shedma,
Khamna, Morocco, &c.
III. South of the Atlas: or quasi-Saharan region, comprising the various
provinces and districts of Sous, Sidi Hisham, Wadnoun, Guezoula, Draha
(Drâa), Tafilett, and a large portion of the Sahara, south-east of the
Atlas.
As to statistics of population I am inclined fully to admit the
statement of Signor Balbi that, the term of African statistics ought to
be rejected as absurd. Count Hemo de Gräberg, who was a long time Consul
at Tangier, and wrote a statistical and geographical account of the
empire of Morocco, states the number of the inhabitants of the town of
Mazagran to be two thousand. Mr. Elton who resided there several months,
assured me it does not contain more than one hundred. Another gentleman
who dwelt there says, three hundred. This case is a fair sample of the
style in which the statistics of population in Morocco are and have been
calculated.
Before the occupation of Algeria by the French, all the cities were
vulgarly calculated at double, or treble their amount of population.
This has also been the case even in India, where we could obtain, with
care, tolerably correct statistics. The prejudices of oriental and
Africo-eastern people are wholly set against statistics, or numbering
the population. No mother knows the age of her own child. It is
ill-omened, if not an affront, to ask a man how many children he has;
and to demand the amount of the population of a city, is either
constructed as an infringement upon the prerogative of the omnipotent
Creator, who knows how many people he creates, and how to take care of
them, or it is the question of a spy, who is seeking to ascertain the
strength or weakness of the country. Europeans can, therefore, rarely
obtain any correct statistical information in Morocco: all is proximate
and conjectural. [18] I am anxious, nevertheless, to give some
particulars respecting the population, in order that we may really have
a proximate idea of the strength and resources of this important
country. In describing the towns and cities of the various provinces, I
shall divide them into,
1. Towns and cities of the coast.
2. Capital or royal cities.
3. Other towns and remarkable places in the interior [19].
The towns and ports, on the Mediterranean, are of considerable interest,
but our information is very scanty, except as far as relates to the
_praesidios_ of Spain, or the well-known and much frequented towns of
Tetuan and Tangier.
Near the mouth of the Malwia (or fifteen miles distant), is the little
town of Kalat-el-wad, with a castle in which the Governor resides.
Whether the river is navigable up to this place, I have not been able to
discover. The water-communication of the interior of North Africa is not
worth the name. Zaffarinds or Jafarines, are three isles lying off the
west of the river Mulweeah, at a short distance, or near its mouth.
These belong to Spain, and have recently been additionally fortified,
but why, or for what reason, is not so obvious. Opposite to them, there
is said to be a small town, situate on the mainland. The Spaniards, in
the utter feebleness and decadence of their power, have lately dubbed
some one or other "Captain-general of the Spanish possessions, &c. in
North Africa."
Melilla or Melilah is a very ancient city, founded by the Carthaginians,
built near a cape called by the Romans, _Rusadir_ (now Tres-Forcas) the
name afterwards given to the city, and which it still retains in the
form of Ras-ed-Dir, (Head of the mountain). This town is the capital of
the province of Garet, and is said to contain 3,000 souls. It is situate
amidst a vast tract of fine country, abounding in minerals, and most
delicious honey, from which it is pretended the place receives its name.
On an isle near, and joined to the mainland by a draw-bridge, is the
Spanish _praesidio_, or convict-settlement called also Melilla,
containing a population of 2,244 according to the Spanish, but Rabbi and
Gräberg do not give it more than a thousand. At a short distance,
towards the east, is an exceedingly spacious bay, of twenty-two miles in
circumference, where, they say, a thousand ships of war could be
anchored in perfect safety, and where the ancient galleys of Venice
carried on a lucrative trade with Fez. Within the bay, three miles
inland, are the ruins of the ancient city of Eazaza, once a celebrated
place.
Alhucemos, is another small island and _praesidio_ of the Spaniards,
containing five or six hundred inhabitants; it commands the bay of the
same name, and is situate at the mouth of the river Wad Nechor, where
there is also the Islet of Ed-Housh. Near the bay, is the ancient
capital, Mezemma, now in ruins; it had, however, some commercial
importance in the times of Louis XIV., and carried on trade with France.
Peñon de Velez is the third _praesidio_-island, a convict settlement of
the Spaniards on this coast, and a very strong position, situate
opposite the mouths of the river Gomera, which disembogues in the
Mediterranean. The garrison contains some nine hundred inhabitants. So
far as natural resources are concerned, Peñon de Velez is a mere rock,
and a part of the year is obliged to be supplied with fresh water from
the mainland. Immediately opposite to the continent is the city of
Gomera (or Badis), the ancient Parientina, or perhaps the Acra of
Ptolemy, afterwards called Belis, and by the Spaniards, Velez de la
Gomera. The name Gomera, according to J.A. Conde, is derived from the
celebrated Arab tribe of the Gomeres, who flourished in Africa and Spain
until the last Moorish kings of Granada. Count Graberg pretends Gomera
now contains three thousand inhabitants! whilst other writers, and of
later date, represent this ancient city, which has flourished and played
an important part through many ages, as entirely abandoned, and the
abode of serpents and hyaenas. Gellis is a small port, six miles east of
Velez de Gomera.
Tegaza is a small town and port, at two miles or less from the sea near
Pescadores Point, inhabited mostly by fishermen, and containing a
thousand souls.
The provinces of Rif and Garet, containing these maritime towns are rich
and highly cultivated, but inhabited by a warlike and semi-barbarous
race of Berbers, over whom the Emperor exercises an extremely precarious
authority. Among these tribes, Abd-el-Kader sought refuge and support
when he was obliged to retire from Algeria, and, where he defied all the
power of the Imperial government for several months. Had the Emir
chosen, he could have remained in Rif till this time; but he determined
to try his strength with the Sultan in a pitch battle, which should
decide his fate.
The savage Rifians assemble for barter and trade on market-days, which
are occasions of fierce and incessant quarrels among themselves, when it
is not unusual for two or three persons to be left dead on the spot.
Should any unfortunate vessel strike on these coasts, the crew find
themselves in the hands of inhuman wreckers. No European traveller has
ever visited these provinces, and we may state positively that
journeying here is more dangerous than in the farthest wastes of the
Sahara. Spanish renegades, however, are found among them, who have
escaped from the _praesidios_, or penal settlements. The Rif country is
full of mines, and is bounded south by one of the lesser chains of the
Atlas running parallel with the coast. Forests of cork clothe the
mountain-slopes; the Berbers graze their herds and flocks in the deep
green valleys, and export quantities of skins.
Tetuan, the Yagath of the Romans, situate at the opening of the Straits
of Gibraltar, four or five miles from the sea, upon the declivity of a
hill and within two small ranges of mountains, is a fine, large, rich
and mercantile city of the province of Hasbat. It has a resident
governor of considerable power and consequence, the name of the present
functionary being Hash-Hash, who has long held the appointment, and
enjoys great influence near the Sultan. Half a mile east of the city
passes from the south Wad Marteen, (the Cus of Marmol) which disembogues
into the sea; on its banks is the little port of Marteen or Marteel, not
quite two miles distant from the coast, and about three from the city,
where a good deal of commerce is carried on, small vessels, laden with
the produce of Barbary, sailing thence to Spain, Gibraltar, and even
France and Italy. The population of Tetouan is from nine to twelve
thousand souls, including, besides Moors and Arabs, four thousand Jews,
two thousand Negroes, and eight thousand Berbers. The streets are
generally formed into arcades, or covered bazaars.
The Jews have a separate quarter; their women are celebrated for their
beauty. The suburbs are adorned with fine gardens, and olive and vine
plantations. Orange groves, or rather orange forests, extend for miles
around, yielding their golden treasures. A great export of oranges could
be established here, which might be conveyed overland to India.
Altogether, Tetuan is one of the most respectable coast-cities of
Morocco, though it has no port immediately adjoining it. Its
fortifications are only strong enough to resist the attack of hostile
Berbers. The town is about two-thirds of a day's journey from Tangier,
south-east. A fair day's journey would be, in Morocco, upwards of thirty
English miles, but a good deal depends upon the season of the year when
you travel.
Ceuta is considered to be Esilissa of Ptolemy, and was once the capital
of Mauritania Tingitana. The Arabs call it Sebât and Sebta, _i.e._,
"seven," after the Romans, who called it _Septem fratres_, and the
Greeks the same, apparently on account of the seven mountains, which are
in the neighbourhood. Ceuta, or Sebta, is evidently the modern form of
this classic name. It is a very ancient city and celebrated fortress,
situate fourteen miles south of Gibraltar, nearly opposite to it, as a
species of rival stronghold, and placed upon a peninsula, which detaches
itself from the continent on the east, and turns then to the north. The
city extends over the tongue of land nearest the continent; the citadel
occupies Monte-del-Acho, called formerly Jibel-el-Mina, a name still
preserved in Almina, a suburb to the south-east.
In the beginning of the eighth century, Ceuta, which was inhabited by
the Goths, passed into the hands of the Arabs, who made it a point of
departure for the expeditions into Spain. It was conquered by the
powerful Arab family of the Ben-Hamed, one of whom, called Mohammed
Edris, invaded Spain, and, after several conquests, was proclaimed King
of Cordova, in A.D. 1,000,
On 21st of August, 1415, the Portuguese conquered it, and it was the
first place which they occupied in Africa. In 1578, at the death of Don
Sebastian, Ceuta passed with Portugal and the rest of the colonies into
the power of Spain; and when, in 1640, the Portuguese recovered their
independence, the Spaniards were left masters of Ceuta, which continues
still in their hands, but is of no utility to them except as a
_praesidio_, which makes the fourth penal settlement possessed by them
on this coast.
Ceuta contains a garrison of two or three thousand men. The free
population amounts to some five or six thousand. It has a small and
insecure port. Here is the famed Gibel Zaterit, "Monkey's promontory,"
or "Ape's Hill," which has occasioned the ingenious fable, that,
inasmuch as there are no monkeys in any part of Europe except Gibraltar,
directly opposite to this rock, where also monkeys are found, there must
necessarily be a subterranean passage beneath the sea, by which they
pass and re-pass to opposite sides of the Straits, and maintain a
friendly and uninterrupted intercourse between the brethren of Africa
and Europe. Anciently, the mountains hereabouts formed the African
pillars of Hercules opposite to Gibraltar, which may be considered the
European pillar of that respectable hero of antiquity.
Passing Tangier after a day's journey, we come to Arzila or Asila, in
the province of Hasbat, which is an ancient Berber city, and which, when
conquered by the Romans, was named first Zilia and afterwards Zulia,
_Constantia Zilis_. It is placed on the naked shores of the Atlantic,
and has a little port. Whilst possessed by the Portuguese, it was a
place of considerable strength, but its fortifications being, as usual,
neglected by the Moors, are now rapidly decaying. [20] The population is
about one thousand. The country around produces good tobacco. The next
town on the Atlantic, after another day's journey southwards, is El
Araish, _i.e._, the trellices of vines; vulgarly called Laratsh. This
city replaces the ancient Liscas or Lixus and Lixa, whose ruins are
near. The Arabs call it El-Araish Beai-Arous, _i.e._, the vineyards of
the Beni-Arous, a powerful tribe, who populate the greater part of the
district of Azgar, of which it is the capital and the residence of the
Governor. It was, probably, built by this tribe about 1,200 or 1,300,
AD. El-Araish contains a population of 2,700 Moors, and 1,300 Jews, or
4,000 souls; but others give only 2,000 for the whole amount, of which
250 are Jews. It has a garrison of 500 troops. The town is situate upon
a small promontory stretching into the sea, and along the mouth of the
river Cos, or Luccos (Loukkos), which forms a secure port, but of so
difficult access, that vessels of two hundred tons can scarcely enter
it. In winter, the roadstead is very bad; [21] the houses are
substantially built; and the fortifications are good, because made by
the Spaniards, who captured this place in 1610, but it was re-taken by
Muley Ishmael in 1689. The climate is soft and delicious. In the
environs, cotton is cultivated, and charcoal is made from the Araish
forest of cork-trees. El-Araish exports cork, wool, skins, bark, beans,
and grain, and receives in exchange iron, cloth, cottons, muslins, sugar
and tea. The lions and panthers of the mountains of Beni Arasis
sometimes descend to the plains to drink, or carry off a supper of a
sheep or bullock. Azgar, the name of this district, connects it with one
of the powerful tribes of the Touaricks; and, probably, a section of
this tribe of Berbers were resident here at a very early period (at the
same time the Berber term _ayghar_ corresponds to the Arabic _bahira_,
and signifies "plain.")
The ancient Lixus deserves farther mention on account of the interest
attached to its coins, a few of which remain, although but very recently
deciphered by archeologists. There are five classes of them, and all
Phoenician, although the city now under Roman rule, represents the
vineyard riches of this part of ancient Mauritania by two bunches of
grapes, so that, after nearly three thousand years, the place has
retained its peculiarity of producing abundant vines, El-Araish, being
"the vine trellices;" others have stamped on them "two ears of corn" and
"two fishes," representing the fields of corn waving on the plains of
Morocco, and the fish (shebbel especially) which fills its northern
rivers.
Strabo says:--"Mauritania generally, excepting a small part desert, is
rich and fertile, well watered with rivers and washed with lakes;
abounding in all things, and producing trees of great dimensions."
Another writer adds "this country produces a species of the vine whose
trunk the extended arms of two men cannot embrace, and which yields
grapes of a cubit's length." "At this city," says Pliny, "was the palace
of Antaeus, and his combat with Hercules and the gardens of Hesperides."
Mehedia or Mâmora, and sometimes, Nuova Mamora, is situate upon the
north-western slope of a great hill, some four feet above the sea, upon
the left bank of the mouth of the Sebon, and at the edge of the
celebrated plain and forest of Mamora, belonging to the province of
Beni-Hassan. According to Marmol, Mamora was built by Jakob-el-Mansour
to defend the embouchure of the river. It was captured by the Spaniards
in 1614, and retaken by the Moors in 1681. The Corsairs formerly took
refuge here. It is now a weak and miserable place, commanded by an old
crumbling-down castle. There are five or six hundred fishermen,
occupying one hundred and fifty cabins, who make a good trade of the
Shebbel salmon; it has a very small garrison. The forest of Mamora,
contains about sixty acres of fine trees, among which are some splendid
oaks, all suitable for naval construction.
Salee or Sala, a name which this place bore antecedently to the Roman
occupation, is a very ancient city, situate upon the right bank of the
river Bouragrag, and near its mouth. This place was captured 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
attempted to throw off the imperial yoke. 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
twenty-four 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 dock-yard 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_
Gräberg 23,000 27,000
Washington 9,000 21,000
Arlett 14,000 24,000
but it is probably greatly exaggerated.
A resident of this country reduces the population of Salee as low as two
or three thousand. For many years, the port of Salee was the rendezvous
of the notorious pirates of Morocco, who, together with the city of
Rabat, formed a species of military republic almost independent of the
Sultan; these Salee rovers were at once the most ferocious and
courageous in the world. Time was, when these audacious freebooters lay
under Lundy Island in the British Channel, waiting to intercept British
traders! "Salee," says Lemprière, "was a place of good commerce, till,
addicting itself entirely to piracy, and revolting from the allegiance
to its Sovereign, Muley Zidan, that prince in the year 1648, dispatched
an embassy to King Charles 1, of England, requesting him to send a
squadron of men-of-war to lie before the town, while he attacked by
land." This request being acceded to, the city was soon reduced, the
fortifications demolished, and the leaders of the rebellion put to
death. The year following, the Emperor sent another ambassador to
England, with a present of Barbary horses and three hundred Christian
slaves.
Rabat, or Er-Rabat, and on some of the foreign maps Nuova Sale, is a
modern city of considerable extent, densely populated, strong and
well-built, belonging to the province of Temsna. It is situated on the
declivity of a hill, opposite to Salee, on the other side of the river,
or left side of the Bouragrag, which is as broad as the Thames at
London Bridge, and might be considered as a great suburb, or another
quarter of the same city. It was built by the famous Yakob-el-Mansour,
nephew of Abd-el-Moumen, and named by him Rabat-el-Fatah, _i.e._, "camp
of victory," by which name it is now often mentioned.
The walls of Rabat enclose a large space of ground, and the town is
defended on the seaside by three forts, erected some years ago by an
English renegade, and furnished with ordnance from Gibraltar. Among the
population are three or four thousand Jews, some of them of great wealth
and consequence. The merchants are active and intelligent, carrying on
commerce with Fez, and other places of the interior, as also with the
foreign ports of Genoa, Gibraltar, and Marseilles. In the middle ages,
the Genoese had a great trade with Rabat, but this trade is now removed
to Mogador, Many beautiful gardens and plantations adorn the suburbs,
deserving even the name of "an earthly paradise."
The Moors of Rabat are mostly from Spain, expelled thence by the
Spaniards. The famous Sultan, Almanzor, intended that Rabat should be
his capital. His untenanted mausoleum is placed here, in a separate and
sacred quarter. This prince, surnamed "the victorious," (Elmansor,) was
he who expelled the Moravedi from Spain. He is the Nero of Western
Africa, as Keatinge says, their "King Arthur." Tradition has it that
Elmansor went in disguise to Mecca, and returned no more. Mankind love
this indefinite and obscure end of their heroes. Moses went up to the
mountain to die there in eternal mystery. At a short distance from Rabat
is Shella, or its ruins, a small suburb situated on the summit of a
hill, which contains the tombs of the royal family of the Beni-Merini,
and the founder of Rabat, and is a place of inviolate sanctity, no
infidel being permitted to enter therein. Monsieur Chenier supposes
Shella to have been the site of the metropolis of the Carthaginian
colonies.
Of these two cities, on the banks of the Wad-Bouragrag, Salee was,
according to D'Anville, always a place of note as at the present time,
and the farthest Roman city on the coast of the Atlantic, being the
frontier town of the ancient Mauritania Tingitana. Some pretend that all
the civilization which has extended itself beyond this point is either
Moorish, or derived from European colonists. The river Wad-Bouragrag is
somewhat a natural line of demarcation, and the products and animals of
the one side differ materially from those of the other, owing to the
number and less rapid descent of the streams on the side of the north,
and so producing more humidity, whilst the south side, on the contrary,
is of a higher and drier soil.
Fidallah, or Seid Allah, _i. e_., "grace," or "gift of God," is a
maritime village of the province of Temsa, founded by the Sultan
Mohammed in 1773. It is a strong place, and surrounded with walls.
Fidallah is situated on a vast plain, near the river Wad Millah, where
there is a small port, or roadstead, to which the corsairs were wont to
resort when they could not reach Salee, long before the village was
built, called Mersa Fidallah. The place contains a thousand souls,
mostly in a wretched condition. Sidi Mohammed, before he built Mogador,
had the idea of building a city here; the situation is indeed
delightful, surrounded with fertility.
Dar-el-Beida (or Casa-Blanco, "white house,") is a small town, formerly
in possession of the Portuguese, who built it upon the ruins of Anfa or
Anafa, [22] which they destroyed in 1468. They, however, scarcely
finished it when they abandoned it in 1515. Dar-el-Beida is situate on
the borders of the fertile plains of the province of Shawiya, and has a
small port, formed by a river and a spacious bay on the Atlantic. The
Romans are said to have built the ancient Anafa, in whose time it was a
considerable place, but now it scarcely contains above a thousand
inhabitants, and some reduce them to two hundred. Sidi Mohammed
attempted this place, and the present Sultan endeavoured to follow up
these efforts. A little commerce with Europe is carried on here. The bay
will admit of vessels of large burden anchoring in safety, except when
the wind blows strong from the north-west. Casa Blanco is two days
journey from Rabat, and two from Azamor, or Azemmour, which is an
ancient and fine city of the province of Dukaila, built by the Amazigh
Berbers, in whose language it signifies "olives." It is situate upon a
hill, about one hundred feet above the sea, and distant half a mile from
the shore, not far from the mouth of the Wad-Omm-er-Rbia (or Omm-Erbegh)
on its southern bank, and is everywhere surrounded by a most fertile
soil. Azamor contains now about eight or nine hundred inhabitants, but
formerly was much more populated. The Shebbel salmon is the principal
commerce, and a source of immense profit to the town. The river is very
deep and rapid, so that the passage with boats is both difficult and
dangerous. It is frequently of a red colour, and charged with slime like
the Nile at the period of its inundations. The tide is felt five or six
leagues up the river, according to Chénier. Formerly, vessels of every
size entered the river, but now its mouth has a most difficult bar of
sand, preventing large vessels going up, like nearly all the Maroquine
ports situate on the mouths, or within the rivers.
Azamor was taken by the Portuguese under the command of the Duke of
Braganza in 1513 who strengthened it by fortifications, the walls of
which are still standing; but it was abandoned a century afterwards, the
Indies having opened a more lucrative field of enterprise than these
barren though honourable conquests on the Maroquine coast. This place is
half a day's journey, or about fourteen miles from Mazagran, _i. e_. the
above Amayeeghs, an extremely ancient and strong castle, erected on a
peninsula at the bottom of a spacious and excellent bay. It was rebuilt
by the Portuguese in 1506, who gave it the name of Castillo Real. The
site has been a centre of population from the remotest period, chiefly
Berbers, whose name it still bears. The Arabs, however, call it
El-Bureeja, i.e., "the citadel." The Portuguese abandoned it in 1769;
Mazagran was the last stronghold which they possessed in Morocco. The
town is well constructed, and has a wall twelve feet thick, strengthened
with bastions. There is a small port, or dock, on the north side of the
town, capable of admitting small vessels, and the roadstead is good,
where large vessels can anchor about two miles off the shore. Its
traffic is principally with Rabat, but there is also some export trade
to foreign parts. Its population is two or three hundred. [23] After
proceeding two days south-west, you arrive at Saffee, or properly
Asafee, called by the natives Asfee, and anciently Soffia or Saffia, is
a city of great antiquity, belonging to the province of Abda, and was
built by the Carthaginians near Cape Pantin. Its site lies between two
hills, in a valley which is exposed to frequent inundations. The
roadstead of Saffee is good and safe during summer, and its shipping
once enabled it to be the centre of European commerce on the Atlantic
coast. The population amounts to about one thousand, including a number
of miserable Jews. The walls of Saffee are massy and high. The
Portuguese captured this city in 1508, voluntarily abandoning it in
1641. The country around is not much cultivated, and presents melancholy
deserts; but there is still a quantity of corn grown. About forty miles
distant, S.E., is a large salt lake. Saffee is one and a half day's
journey from Mogador.
Equidistant between Mazagran and Saffee is the small town of El-Waladia,
situate on an extensive plain. Persons report that near this spot is a
spacious harbour, or lagune, sufficiently capacious to contain four or
five hundred sail of the line; but, unfortunately, the entrance is
obstructed by some rocks, which, however, it is added, might easily be
blown up. The lagune is also exposed to winds direct for the ocean. The
town, enclosed within a square wall, and containing very few
inhabitants, is supposed to have been built in the middle of the
seventeenth century by the Sultan Waleed. after whom it was named.
This brings us to Mogador, which, with Aghadir, have already been
described.