consisting o f a couple o f sofas or couches, some china, and tea equipage, a clock, a few arms hung round the walls, a water- pot, and carpets to kneel upon in prayers. Here the Emperor takes coffee or tea, and transacts business with his courtiers. T h e grand pavilion in the middle o f the enclosure is appropriated to the women ; it is a v e ry spacious building, and fitted up in the same style o f neatness and simplicity as the others.* Near to the palace is (the M’shoar, or) Place of Audience, an extensive quadrangle, walled in, but open to the sky, in which the Emperor gives audience to his subjects, hears the ir complaints, and administers justice. In Marocco are many temples, sanctuaries, and mosques; o f these, the most curious is one in the middle o f the city, called Jamaa Sidi Yusif, built by a prince named Muley el Mumen, on the site o f one erected b y Sidi Yusif, which the former destroyed with a view to obliterate the latter prince’s name ; in this, however, he was disappointed, for though he expended great sums in the erection o f the present building, and called it after himself, for the purpose o f transmitting his own name to posterity, y e t the people continued to call it by the old name, which it retains to the present time. T he re is another mosque, said to have been built b y Muley * The Emperor, Seedy Mohammed, who died in 1790, after reigning thirty- three years, shewed a great predilection for the city of Marocco, and caused several regular pavilions to be built by Europeans in the midst of the palace gardens ; these are of hewn stone, and finished in a plain substantial style. There are many private gardens in the city, containing the most delicious fruits, and having pavilions decorated much in the style of those above described, which form a curious contrast with the real, or apparent wretchedness of the surrounding buildings. el Monsore ;* the body o f it is supported b y many pillars o f marble, and under it is a (mitfere) cistern, which holds a large quantity o f water, collected in the rainy season, and used by the Mohammedans for their ablutions. T h e tower is square, and built like that o f Seville in Spain, and the one near R abat already described ; f the walls are four feet thick, and it has seven stories, in each o f which are windows, narrow on the outside, but wide within, which renders the interior light and a iry : the ascent is not b y stairs, but b y a grad ually winding terrace composed o f lime and small stones, so firmly cemented together as to be nearly as hard as iron. On the summit o f the tower is a turret in the form o f a square lantern, hence called (Smaa el Fannarh) the Lantern Tower, which commands a most extensive prospect, and from whence Cape Cantin, distant about 120 miles, is distinctly visible. T he roofs o f the different chambers in this building, which are all quadrangular, are v e ry ingeniously v a u lte d : and indeed the whole workmanship is o f the most excellent kind. Prayers are performed here e v e ry F rid a y in presence o f the Emperor. Tha t part o f the c ity adjoining this edifice is quite a heap o f ruins. The re is another tower in the c ity , which may be mentioned, from the circumstance o f its having three golden ba lls on its top, weighing together, it is said, 10 quintals, equal to 1205 lbs. avoirdupois. Several kings, when in want o f money, have, it is said, attempted to take them down, but without success, as the y are v e r y firmly and artfully fixed; the superstitious people say they are fixed by magic, that (jin) a spirit guards th em from a ll in ju ry, and that a ll those who have attempted their removal, * This is the man to whom Rhazes, the Arabian physician, dedicated his book de Variolis et Morbillis. f See page 38.
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