fish p on d s , shaded w ith orange, lemon, pomgrana(,e, and fig trees, abounding with fruit, and ornamented with roses, hyacinths, jasmine, violets, and orange flowers, emitting a delec-r table fragrance. In the c ity are a great number o f mosques, sanctuaries, and other public b u ild in g s ; about fifty o f these are v e ry sumptuous edifices, being ornamented with a kind o f marble, unknown in Europe, procured in the A tla s mountains.* T h e maintenance o f professors and students in the mosques, has la te ly become v e ry .scanty, the wars having destroyed many o f the possessions b y which learning was promoted. The students are mostly employed in reading the Koran; i f any one read a text which he does not understand, the professor explains it to him in p u b lic ; at other times the y dispute, among themselves, and the professor fina lly explains the passage. A public bath is attached to each mosque, for religious ablutions ; there are also public baths in various parts o f the town, whither the common people re so rt;+ the men at one hour and the women at an o th e r; when occupied b y the latter, a rope is suspended from the cieling o f the first apartment, as a signal to the stranger not to proceed farther; and so particular are they in this respect,.that a man would not be here permitted to speak to his own wife, such regard have th e y for their reputation. These baths produce a considerable sum annually. Besides these there are chalybeate, sulphureous, and antimonial baths; there is also a bath celebrated as a specific for the venereal disease, which is said to be an infallible cure in three months. * There are many other kinds of marble in this country, similar to what is found in different parts of Italy, and the rest of Europe, y Most of the principal inhabitants have baths in their own houses. T he hospitals which ha ve been mentioned b y early writers as being in Fas, must have fallen greatly into decay, as there are now very few ; in these the poor are fed, but no surgeon or physician is attached to th em ; women attend the infirm arid sick till they recover, or death terminate their sufferings. There is a Muristan, or mad-house, where deranged people are confined ; they are chained- down, and superintended b y men who use them v e r y h a r sh ly ; their apartments are disgustingly filthy. There are nearly two hundred caravanseras or inns, called Fondaque, in this c ity ; these buildings are three stories high, and contain from fifty to one hundred apartments, in each o f which is a water-cock to supply water for ablution and various other purposes. A s the mode o f trave lling is to carry bedding with one, they do not provide beds in these inns, but lea ve you to make use o f what you have got, providing only a m a t : and i f you want any refreshment you cannot order a meal, but must purchase it at a cook’s shop, o r procured at the butcher’s, and get it dressed yourself, payirig so much per day for yo u r apartment, the master o f the Fondaque supplying charcoal and Umjummars, or portable earthen fire-pots, &c. There are a great many corn-mills in F a s ; for the inhabitants being mostly poor, and unable to la y up corn sufficient in store, they purchase meal o f the millers, who make great profit b y it. The rich b u y their own corn, and send it to the mills to be ground. Each trade o r occupation has its separate department allotted to i t ; in one place are seen several shops occupied b y notaries or scriveners, two in each shop; in another s tatione rs; in another shoe-makers: here a fruit market, there wax chandlers;
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