In 1579 an unsuccessful attempt was made by Felipe II.
o f Spain to obtain the cession of Laraiche in return-for
Spanish assistance against the Algerian Turks,1 but in
Occupation. 1610 Mohammed es-Sheikh sold the town to
belipe III. for 100,000 crowns 3 and assistance
in his fight for the throne against his brothers.3 The
Spaniards added greatly to the fortifications,* finishing
them in 1618, which date is recorded on a stone over
the water-port.4 In 1664 the republic of Salli attacked
it, but without success.5 A t length, in 1689, Mulai IsmaU
aided by frigates and forces from Louis XIV. of France]
besieged it most determinedly, and in November of that
year it capitulated, a Franciscan friar being intermediary
in the negotiations, f Instead of abiding by his agreement,
and letting the garrison return to their country, the
sultan only liberated a hundred of the chief among them,
carrying off sixteen hundred as slaves to Fez and Mequinez.
A Moorish historian states that the siege lasted three
and a half months, the garrison only surrendering after
A Moorish 1200 perished, the remaining 2000 being
Account. taken prisoners. A breach had been made
by the explosion of a powder-magazine in the
wall west o f the triangular tower called El Heri. The
* Tissot gives their names for the towers as those of St. James
St. Stephen (the latter to the S.W.) and the Jews (this being the oldest),'
while the castle was dedicated to “ our Lady of Europe.”
1" The first act of the Spaniards had been the erection of a Franciscan
convent. During their occupation the chief trade of Laraiche was in
charcoal. 6
* An unpublished account is in the Govt. Library at Algiers, C. VI., No. 4.
2 M e n e z e s , p . 1 2 4 .
* See R o j a s , Relacion de Algunos Sucesos, Lisbon, 2623, and G u a d a l a j a r a , Rela-
cion y Destierro de los Moriscos de Castilla, Pamplona, r6 i4, wherein Laraiche is
said to have been “ taken.”
4 C a s t e l l a n o s , p . 7 7 .
8 E l U f r a n i , p. 442. See A l f a n o , Vera Relazione, Rome, 1666. M o u e t t e (p. 145)
says that on this occasion 12,000 Moors were cut to pieces,
8 D ’A v i t v ,
booty included 180 cannons, of which twenty-two were
bronze, the dimensions of one —called El Kissab— being
given as thirty-five feet in length, needing four men to
stretch round the breach, and firing a ball of thirty-five
ratals (of 850 grammes).1 By the Convention of Madrid
of 1691, published in the Gaceta of March 20th of that
year, 100 Spaniards were exchanged for 1000 Moors.
Since that time Laraiche has been in the hands of
the Moors, who re-peopled it with Rifis, but in 1758 it
contained only 200 inhabitants.J 2 In 1765 the . Bom;bardments.
French under Du Chaffault suffered great loss
in an attempt to destroy the pirate vessels in the river, *
and in 1829 the Austrians met with the same fate, the
small force which had been landed being enticed too far
up and cut off.3 In February 1860 Laraiche. was bombarded
by Spain, then at war with Morocco, but on account
of the heavy sea running the damage inflicted was slight.
In 1780 all the Europeans in Laraiche were expelled
by Mohammed X V I I .4 and it seems that as late as 1836 ,
none were resident there, although in 1786
the monopoly of its trade had been for a time Residents.
granted to Holland, including even the export
of wheat.5 In 1789 the Moors were still building pirate
vessels here.6 Several foreign merchants now reside at
this port, their interests being looked after by one consul,
six vice-consuls, and five consular agents. The Spanish
Franciscans have had a mission here for some years past,
* Three chaloups which went up the river to bum the corsairs were
stranded and cut off with a loss of 450 men, of whom but 84 survived
iu slavery. This is hardly the light in which the affair was officially
reported, at the time when Vhonneur de la France required that it should
appear otherwise, but in a little book published soon after in Holland by
one of the victims the truth appears unvarnished. 7
1 E l U f r a n i , p . 507. 2 Ez Z a iA .n i, p . 14 1 .
* E n -N A s i r i , v o l . i v . , p . 183. 4 J a c k s o n , p . 6 5 ; G h e n i e r , v o l . i., p . 24.
5 L o n d o n E n c y c l o p e d i a , e d . 1836. 6 G o d a r d , p . 562,
7 By B id e d e M a u r v i l l e : G o d a r d , p. 551.