erect or in scattered sections, which are said to have
The Hassan
once numbered 360, partly surrounding a large
quadrangle formed by the ruined walls o f what
Mosque. H J
was designed to be a gigantic mosque. Underneath
are extensive vaults or cisterns, and in the vicinity
are traces of aqueducts and other buildings.
A little further out from the town are the ruins of
Sheila, the first town to proclaim Mulai Idrees, probably
the Roman colony which seems to have
given its name to S a lli; perhaps a Carthaginian
settlement. Jackson had heard that the tombs of two
Roman Generals were here, revered as those of saints,1
but this was most likely a confused idea of the Beni
Marin tombs which lend special interest to the spot,
though Roman and other ancient coins o have been found
here. Among the few remains of antiquity are some
stone vaults, an arched canal, perhaps Roman, and a
piece of old wall.
Otherwise, although picturesquely ruinous, and overgrown
with vegetation surmounted with storks nests, the
beautiful gate-ways and moSque-tower which
. The Existing ^ stan(j are aq comparatively modern. * In
Rums. . . .., . . c-i it
the time of Idreesi (1154).the ancient bheila
had already been abandoned in favour of Salli,2 so that
this magnificence points to another period, when, in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Beni Marin revived
its glories and employed it as a royal burying place.
In a desolate ruin two of the tomb-stones, finely inscribed, f
have lain for six hundred years, those of Ali V. — the
“ Black Sultan,”— and o f his wife Shems es-Sbahi— “ Morning
Sun,”— who were laid to rest here on May 24th,
* For illustrations see The Moorish Empire, pp. 107 and 114.
t The inscriptions are-translated in a note to p. 103 of The Moorish
Empire, where an illustration of one will be found.
1 p . 30 1 . 2 P* ^3*
13 5 1 ,. and Sept. 18 th, 1349, respectively.* On account
of the sanctity of such a spot, until quite recently
Sheila was closed against Christians and Jews, but now
its ruins provide a most pleasant spot for picnics.
From Rabat to Casablanca is 46 miles by sea, and
about 50 by land.
# In the Raod el Kartas 1 are given the names of several ameers who
were buried here, as’ Yahub H., who died in his new palace at Algeciras
in 1286; his son Yusef IV., assassinated at Tlemgen in 1307, and Amr
(Abu ThSbit) who died at Tangier in 1308, and that of one woman, Umm
el Az— “ The Beloved Mother”— in 1284. Those wltose graves remain
were of later date than the work in question.
t See the Atheneeum of'Sept.'18 and Oct. 30, 1875, for an account by
Ti Blackmore.
1 p. 683.