Finding The Sultana In Such A Fair Way Of Recovery, The Emperor
Dismissed His Governors To Their Respective Provinces, And
Removed his
court to Mequinez, his favourite summer residence, leaving me here, to
complete the cure of the Sultana, and
To attend several of his
subjects, who stand high in his favour, in the lower town of Fez. As
the attendance required by my patients does not occupy the whole of my
time, I employ my leisure in observing such things as appear most
worthy of remark.
The town (or rather _towns_ of Fez, this city being divided into two
distinct parts, the one called Upper, the other Lower Fez) is the
capital of the kingdom of that name, and is supposed to contain about
three hundred thousand inhabitants, besides foreigners of their own
persuasion. There are upwards of five hundred mosques: one of them in
particular, which was built by Edris the Second, and in which his
remains were deposited, is magnificent beyond description, and is
about a mile and a half in circumference. There is another very little
inferior to this, which was erected by the Arabs of Caiwan, and
called _Carubin_. The other mosques have been constructed since. To
most of the mosques are annexed several colleges, religious schools,
and hospitals for the pilgrims who visit this place, for, in point of
holiness, it is considered as next to Mecca and Medina.
The lower town of Fez was built by Edris the Second, about the end of
the eighth century, and is taken notice of by Pliny under the name of
_Volubilis_. According to that author, and others, this city ranked
amongst the principal inland towns of Mauritania, and was a Roman
colony.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 82 of 146
Words from 21802 to 22087
of 39195
