The journey to Tetuán, about 37 M., may be performed (on horseback or
by mule) in one day, but travellers wishing to break their journey may
spend a night at a fondak (see below) where, considering the rough
accommodation, it is best to camp outside (tents and camping-utensils
should be taken from Tangier). An escort is advisable. Or we may go to
Tetuán by a steamer of the _Bland Line_ (usually on Sat. even., in 3
hrs.; $4), and return thence to Tangier or Gibraltar by the
_Navigation Mixte_ (p. 123; every second Tues.; agent at Tetuán,
Salvador Hassan). From Tangier to Ceuta direct there is a weekly
steamer (on Thurs.) of the _Vapores Correos de Africa_. For the
excursion to Ceuta a passport _visé_ by the Spanish consul at Tangier
or Tetuán is required. A local boat crosses daily from Ceuta to
Algeciras (p. 56) in 2 hrs.
From the Outer Market we follow the Fez road (Pl. C, 3–5; Camino de Fez)
to the S., passing at some distance from the stone huts of the Berber
villages (_Duâr_) in the fertile hill-country of the province of
_El-Fahs_. Nearing the village of _Aïn-Dalia_, we pass below it, ride to
the S.E. in view of the steep peak of _Jebel Zinat_, crowned with the
ruined house of Raisuli, and ascend in the fertile valley of the _Wâd
Marhar_ (_Tahaddart_). Here, on the right, beyond the hills inhabited by
the Berber tribe of the _Beni Msaur_, we can sometimes descry in clear
weather the distant _Jebel Mulaï Abd es-Slam_ (5742 ft.), the most
sacred mountain in N. Morocco.
The track then ascends through remains of cork-tree forest in the
beautiful hill-region of the _Wâd Râs_. At the top of the pass (1476
ft.), the watershed between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, stands
the fondak of _Aïn el-Jedida_, the largest caravanserai in N. Morocco
(comp. above). The roof-terrace commands a fine view of the hills
around.
The track, which soon affords a beautiful *View of Tetuán, now descends
the stony slope to the E. into the valley of the _River Martín_, a
stream rising on the Jebel Mulaï Abd es-Slam.
=Tetuán= (197 ft.; Hot. Dersa, pens. 10 p.; Hot. Calpe, R. 3, pens. 10
p., plain but good; Hot. Victoria, pens. 6–8 p.; Brit. vice-cons., W. S.
Bewicke), Arabic _Titawân_, Berber _Tettawên_, an interesting town,
containing among its 30,450 inhab. 6000 Jews, 400 Spaniards, and about
500 immigrants from Algeria, lies 7 M. from the Mediterranean and above
the left bank of the River Martín, not far from the ancient Roman
_Thamuda_. The garden-like environs are fertile and well watered. With
its numerous minarets, its domed tombs of saints, its town-walls
garnished with many towers, and its loftily placed citadel (Kasba)
overshadowed on the N. by the red sandstone rocks of the _Jebel Dersa_,
it presents a most charming picture of an Oriental town entirely free
from European disfigurement. The narrow, winding streets recall the
ancient part of Cordova, and the colonnaded courts of the externally
plain Moorish houses resemble the patios of Seville (p. 61). In the more
regularly built Mellah (Jewish quarter) one is often struck with the
beauty of the Jewish girls and the women’s gold-embroidered festive
attire. Some parts of the town still show traces of the Spanish siege of
1859–60, which gained for the victorious Marshal O’Donnell the title of
‘Duke of Tetuán’.
The graves in the _Jewish Cemetery_ are sometimes not unlike the
anthropoid sarcophagi of the Phœnicians (comp. p. 347).
The old _Portuguese Watch Tower_ at _Kilallin_ affords a superb
panorama.
The mouth of the River Martín, which is much choked with sand, forms the
harbour of Tetuán, but sea-going vessels have to anchor in the open
roads. The trade of the place is unimportant.
A coast-road was constructed by the Spaniards during the Morocco
campaign, connecting Tetuán with Ceuta (23 M.), but now only a track
remains. It leads at first through the coast-plain at the E. base of
_Jebel Dersa_ (see above), and then, beyond the _Cabo Negro_ or _Cape
Negron_ (886 ft.; Arabic _Râs et-Tarf_), skirts the fertile spurs of
the _Anjera Mts._ Beyond the Moroccan frontier guard-house, we enter
Spanish territory, protected by a chain of block-houses, and skirt the
E. slope of the Jurassic _Sierra Bullones_ or _Apes’ Hill_ (2809 ft.;
Arabic _Jebel Mûsa_, _i. e._ Hill of Moses), where apes abound. This
is the highest peak of the Anjera Mts. and was famed in antiquity as
one of the pillars of Hercules (p. 54).
=Ceuta= (several small Spanish inns; no photographing allowed), Arabic
_Sebta_, a town of 10,000 inhab. (of whom 3000 are soldiers), the only
important Spanish possession in Morocco besides Melilla (p. 124), lies
on a narrow, flat tongue of land between a spur of the Sierra
Bullones, crowned with the white tomb of a saint, and the strongly
fortified peninsula of _Almina_, which culminates in the _Monte del
Acho_ (637 ft.). Originally Phœnician, it became a Roman colony, under
the name of _Ad Septem Fratres_ (later _Septon_ or _Septa Emporia_),
and in the middle ages was the most important and prosperous seaport
of N. Morocco. In 1169 it was the seat, of a Genoese trading station,
and in 1415 it fell into the hands of the Portuguese, from whose time
date the ruins of _Ceuta la Vieja_ (old Ceuta). Since 1580, in spite
of repeated attacks by the Moroccans (1694–1720, 1732), it has
remained in the uninterrupted possession of Spain, and it now presents
a sadly decayed appearance. The tunny and sardine fisheries here are
very thriving.