It Was Captured By The Spaniards
In 1614, And Retaken By The Moors In 1681.
The Corsairs formerly took
refuge here.
It is now a weak and miserable place, commanded by an old
crumbling-down castle. There are five or six hundred fishermen,
occupying one hundred and fifty cabins, who make a good trade of the
Shebbel salmon; it has a very small garrison. The forest of Mamora,
contains about sixty acres of fine trees, among which are some splendid
oaks, all suitable for naval construction.
Salee or Sala, a name which this place bore antecedently to the Roman
occupation, is a very ancient city, situate upon the right bank of the
river Bouragrag, and near its mouth. This place was captured in 1263, by
Alphonso the Wise, King of Castille, who was a short time after
dispossessed of his conquest by the King of Fez; and the Moorish Sultans
have kept it to the present time, though the city itself has often
attempted to throw off the imperial yoke. The modern Salee is a large
commercial and well-fortified city of the province of Beni-Hassan. Its
port is sufficiently large, but, on account of the little depth of
water, vessels of large burden cannot enter it. The houses and public
places are tolerably well-built. The town is fortified by a battery of
twenty-four pieces of cannon fronting the sea, and a redoubt at the
entrance of the river. What navy the Maroquines have, is still laid up
here, but the dock-yard is now nearly deserted, and the few remaining
ships are unserviceable. The population, all of whom are Mahometans, are
now, as in Corsair times, the bitterest and most determined enemies of
Christians, and will not permit a Christian or Jew to reside among them.
The amount of this population, and that of Rabat, is thus given,
A resident of this country reduces the population of Salee as low as two
or three thousand. For many years, the port of Salee was the rendezvous
of the notorious pirates of Morocco, who, together with the city of
Rabat, formed a species of military republic almost independent of the
Sultan; these Salee rovers were at once the most ferocious and
courageous in the world. Time was, when these audacious freebooters lay
under Lundy Island in the British Channel, waiting to intercept British
traders! "Salee," says Lempriere, "was a place of good commerce, till,
addicting itself entirely to piracy, and revolting from the allegiance
to its Sovereign, Muley Zidan, that prince in the year 1648, dispatched
an embassy to King Charles 1, of England, requesting him to send a
squadron of men-of-war to lie before the town, while he attacked by
land." This request being acceded to, the city was soon reduced, the
fortifications demolished, and the leaders of the rebellion put to
death.
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