portance. There are at present two European
European consuls, two vice-consuls, and three consular
Residents.
agents, all engaged in trade, besides whom
there are several other foreign merchants. In 1886
Rabat became a station of an English Presbyterian
mission, which has developed into the Independent “ Central
Morocco Mission.” The Franciscans have also a
mission and school. The town was opened to Europeans
by Mohammed XVII. or Abd er-Rahman II., but the present
custom house was only erected in 1848. There are many
Jewish traders also, who possess a good sized mellah,
rebuilt about 18 1 1 ,1 which contains sixteen synagogues.
The people of Salli sometimes taunt the Rabatis with
being descended from Jews who have embraced the faith
of Mohammed, and whatever foundation there may be
for this assertion,* it is certain that the Moors of Rabat
are not considered of blue blood, and aristocratic families
seldom intermarry with them. An Arab writer who was
here in the fourteenth century, on the other hand, declares
that Rabat was then almost entirely inhabited by families
from Granada.2
The populations of Salli and Rabat have been thus
estimated: Salli Rabat
Washington . . . . 9,000 21,000
A rle tt............................... 14,000 24,000
Jackson . '. 25,000,
G r a b e r g ......................... 27,000
Castellanos . . . . 30,000
K e r r ............................... . . . . 22,000 f 40,000
The writer . . . . . . . . 20,000 30,000
* The only proof to be offered is the existence in Rabat of a district'
called the Haumah Bahairah (formerly Derb bila Soma5,— ¡jjg Mosque-less
street) in which may be found many families with such un-Mohammedan
names as Toledano, El Aofir, Bu Yusef, Bel Mesa5od, El Haloo, Ben 5Brahim,
Dadun, El Azrak, etc.
1 R iley , p. 546.
2 Ib n e l K h a t e e b , q u o t e d b y G a y a n g o s in E l M a k k a r i , b k . v iii ., ch . i., n o te 40.
-j- Arrived at by the computation o f a well-known Moor, of xo dwellers in each of
2000 houses, with 1500 Jews. When no oil or barley comes into Salli the Government
orders a third o f the supply for Rabat to be sent there.