They Have Mats Spread Round The Fire, Upon Which They Sit In The Day, And Sleep At Night.

They are so parsimonious, that they live the greater part of the year on fruit, vegetables, and fish, though

They supply the markets with abundance of fowls (of which they rear immense numbers), butter, &c. &c. Their chief defence at night is their dogs; each tent is provided with one, and they are so vigilant, that they give instant notice of the approach of intruders; and when the alarm is communicated to the whole of them, it is scarcely possible to conceive the effect. The habit of the peasantry is the same both winter and summer, and consists of a thick garment (frequently old and tattered), a short capote, a greasy turban, and a pair of yellow slippers. They sometimes throw round them a coarse white _haik_, which also serves for a bed and covering in the night, as many of them lie upon the bare ground in the open air before their tents.

In my next I shall give you a short sketch of the produce of this fertile country.

LETTER XIX.

_Face and Produce of the Empire, natural and artificial_.

Mequinez.

The mountains (the principal of which are Mount Diur, Mount Cotta, near the city of Larache, the mountain commonly called _Ape's Hill_, between Tangiers and Ceuta, and that remarkable ridge called Mount Atlas) contain mines of gold, silver, copper, and tin.

The chief capes or promontories of these states are, Cape Cottes or Ampelusia, known to our seafaring people by the name of Cape Spartel, the _Promontorium Herculis_, and the _Promontorium Oleastrum_, so called from the prodigious number of wild olives growing upon it.

All the bays round the coast furnish an abundance of the most delicious fish of every kind; and the several rivers are equally productive. The occasional overflow of the rivers greatly enriches and fertilizes the soil, to which, more than to their own industry (for they never manure their grounds, and are absolute strangers to the art of husbandry), are the Moors indebted for their plentiful crops of wheat, Turkey corn, rye, rice, oats, barley, and grain of all kinds.

I have before told you that this country abounds in fine fruits. The most esteemed are, oranges, grapes, pomegranates, lemons, citrons, figs, almonds, and dates. The Moors also grow great quantities of excellent hemp and flax. Medicinal herbs and roots are very plentiful here. Vegetables of every kind, and melons, cucumbers, &c. thrive exceedingly well. The grass grows spontaneously to an amazing height, and in consequence of the fine pasturage the animals are very prolific, cows and mares producing two at a birth, and the sheep frequently four lambs in the year.

Among the botanical herbs, plants, and roots, are the colocynth, palma Christi, wild and meadow saffron, the great mountain garlic, mountain satyrion, senna, rhubarb, bastard rhubarb, balsam apple, horned poppy, wild succory, recabilia peruviana, ipecacuanha, wild turnip, wild radish, field mustard, Indian cress, dandelion, black winter cherry, wild lily, hyacinth, violet, narcissus, wild rose, camomile, tulips, and the _fleur de lis_, equal to that of Florence; with a variety of others too numerous to describe.

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