The Mosques Of This Town, Which I Have Before Mentioned As Very
Numerous, Are Square Buildings, And Generally Of Stone; Before The
Principal Gate There Is A Court Paved With White Marble, With Piazzas
Round, The Roofs Of Which Are Supported By Marble Columns.
In niches
within these piazzas, the Moors perform their ablutions before they
enter the mosques.
Attached to each mosque is a tower, with three
small open galleries, one above another, whence the people are called
to prayer, not by a bell, but by an officer appointed for that
duty. These towers, as well as the mosques, are covered with lead, and
adorned with gilding, and tiles of variegated colours. No woman is
allowed to enter the Moorish places of worship.
Several of the aqueducts, which were constructed by the Carthaginians
and Romans, are still to be seen; and the ruins of amphitheatres, and
other public buildings, are found in the town and neighbourhood of
Fez: likewise many Saracen monuments of the most stupendous
magnificence, which were erected under the Caliphs of Bagdad. The
mosques and ruins are frequented by a great number of storks, which
are very tame, and are regarded by the Moors as a kind of inferior
saints.
The baths here are wonderfully well constructed for the purpose. Some
of them are square buildings, but the greater part are circular, paved
with black or white polished marble, and containing three rooms: the
first for undressing and dressing, the second for the water, and in
the third is the bath. Their manner of bathing is very curious: the
attendant rubs the person with great force, then pulls and stretches
the limbs, as if he meant to dislocate every joint. This exercise to
these indolent people is very conducive to health.
The bazars in which the tradesmen have their shops, are very
extensive. These shops are filled with all kinds of merchandise. In
the centre of the town is a rectangular building, with colonnades,
where the principal merchants attend daily to transact business.
The inhabitants of Fez are of a large muscular stature, fair
complexion, with black beards and eyes; extremely amorous and jealous
of their women, whom they keep strictly guarded. Their houses consist
of four wings, forming a court in the centre, round which is an
arcade, or piazza, with one spacious apartment on each side. The court
is paved with square pieces of marble, and has a basin of the same in
the centre, with a fountain. They keep their houses remarkably clean
and neat; but all the streets of this immense town are narrow, very
badly paved with large irregular stones, and most shockingly
dirty. The tops of their houses, like those of Tetuan, and other towns
in Barbary, are flat, for the purpose of recreation.
Among the remnants of several amphitheatres, there is one very nearly
entire, which is kept in constant repair at the expense of the
Emperor, and appropriated as a menagerie for lions, tigers, and
leopards. As I was contemplating it the other day, I felt at a loss to
account for this being kept in repair, while the others were suffered
to moulder into dust, unheeded, excepting a very few, and those but
partially prevented from sharing the general wreck.
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