It would be out o f p la ce to dwell here on Ceu ta as
it exists to-day, since for n e a rly five hundred y ea rs it
Modern Ceuta. has been in European hands. T h e town, the
p enitentia ry, and the fortifications which still
require ann o y ing formalities before the stranger can pass
through them, are essentially Spanish, and as such have no
special interest for students o f Morocco. T ow a rd s the
mainland C eu ta is pro te cted b y a citadel upon the narrow
n e ck o f the isthmus, threaded b y a circuitous th o rou gh fare,
and gu ard ed b y moats on eith er side. I shall never
fo rg e t the r e lie f with which I re-crossed the b ro o k which
forms th e Moorish frontier, after h a v in g had to dare the
bare-footed Spanish sentries, who removed the stoppers
from their guns and threatened to shoot us i f we would
not rid e some miles b a c k a second time for a pass
which should h a v e b een prov ided at a prev iou s barrier.
The Frontier. B u t a cu p o f S re en tea a t the Moorish gu a rd house
on the opposite hill made us fo rg e t the
worries o f an excursion into civilization. Hard b y is a
Moorish Customs House, through which passes merchandize
for A n je r a and even T e tu an . T h e r e are a number
o f Moors residing in Ceuta, inc lu d ing the few descendants
o f those transferred from Oran, when that town
was abandoned b y Spain in 1796.
Communication by faluchos and steamers is maintained
with the neighbouring Spanish ports and Gibraltar, but
Communication. the m° St P ictureSq Ue is up hill and down
dale from T an g ie r , a lo n g d a y ’s jo u rn e y
through beautiful country . T h e much shorter road from
T e tu an is less p le a sant unless the s light title is out, since
for n e a r ly e igh t hours it follows a san d y b ea ch.
3.-BADIS (PENON DE VELEZ DE LA GOMERA)
The next Spanish possession, travelling from Ceuta westward,
has also an ancient, if scanty, record. Probably
the Belis of the Carthaginians, or perhaps Parietina, it
is mentioned later as a Christian bishopric. 1 But it first
appears in modern history when we read that,
. t t t History.
like N’kor, it was re-built by Mohammed III.
(En-Nasir) in 1207.3 In the time of Leo,— who says
that some authors ascribed its foundation to the Goths,3—
it was a flourishing place whose inhabitants were half
of them fishers, and half of them—owners of a small
ship-building-yard— pirates, while among them were
many Jews who made excellent wine. Every year or
two there came Venetian galleys laden with rich merchandize,
and the rulers of Fez held Badis in high repute
as the nearest port to their metropolis. *
In 1508 Don Pedro de Navarro took the rock or
“ penon" which stands a mile from the site of the ancient
city, but only held it 1 until i?22, when the } . . Spanish Period.^
garrison was cut to pieces on its capture by
the Turk Salah R a is .4 The town was then re-built, and
piracy flourished once more, not only under the Rifis,
but under the Algerians, who had recently taken F e z ,5
and were now also masters of Badis. In 1525 and 1563
the Spaniards made unsuccessful attempts to recover
the “ penon" but in 1564 they sent a fleet of no less
than one hundred and ten vessels, carrying fifteen thousand
men, enlisted in Genoa, Malta and Portugal, as
well as in Spain, under the leadership of Garcia de
Toledo, who soon obtained possession, and his nation
has held it since, t
* This was about 1500, yet UIrani says it was built in 1509! 6
f See The Alooiish Empire, pp. i n , 116, 119 and 152.
J Lafuente, Historia de España \ Forneron, His tori a de Felipe I I I .: see
also Public Record Office, Colonial State Papers, Foreign Series, vol.
for 1564, pp. 194 and 216.
1 H o o k e r a n d B a l l . 2 Radd el Kartds, p . 330
3 E d . R am u s io , p . 93. 4 L e o ; T o r r e s , p . 433.
5 E l UfrA.ni, p . 89; T o r r e s , p . 420; G o d a r d , p p . 425 a n d 470. 6 p . 69.