The Pass of Teniah which leads from Algiers to
Mediah is, therefore, included in the principal chain of that part of
the Regency.
[16] Xenophon, in his Anabasis, speaks of ostriches in Mesopotamia being
run down by fleet horses.
[17] Mount Atlas was called Dyris by the ancient aborigines, or Derem,
its name amongst the modern aborigines. This word has been compared to
the Hebrew, signifying the place or aspect of the sun at noon-day, as if
Mount Atlas was the back of the world, or the cultivated parts of the
globe, and over which the sun was seen at full noon, in all his fierce
and glorious splendour. Bochart connects the term with the Hebrew
meaning 'great' or 'mighty,' which epithet would be naturally applied to
the Atlas, and all mountains, by either a savage or civilized people. We
have, also, on the northern coast, Russadirum, the name given by the
Moors to Cape Bon, which is evidently a compound of _Ras_, head, and
_dirum_, mountain, or the head of the mountain.
We have again the root of this word in Doa-el-Hamman, Tibet Deera, &c.,
the names of separate chains of the mighty Atlas. Any way, the modern
Der-en is seen to be the same with the ancient Dir-is.
[18] The only way of obtaining any information at all, is through the
registers of taxation; and, to the despotism and exactions of these and
most governments, we owe a knowledge of the proximate amount of the
numbers of mankind.
[19] Tangier, Mogador, Wadnoun, and Sous have already been described,
wholly, or in part.
[20] In 936, Arzila was sacked by the English, and remained for twenty
years uninhabited.
[21] According to Mr. Hay, a portion of the Salee Rovers seem to have
finally taken refuge here. Up the river El-Kous, the Imperial squadron
lay in ordinary, consisting of a corvette, two brigs, (once
merchant-vessels, and which had been bought of Christians), and a
schooner, with some few gun-boats, and even these two or three vessels
were said to be all unfit for sea. But, when Great Britain captured the
rock of Gibraltar, we, supplanting the Moors became the formidable
toll-keepers of the Herculean Straits, and the Salee rivers have ever
since been in our power. If the Shereefs have levied war or tribute on
European navies since that periods it has been under our tacit sanction.
The opinion of Nelson is not the less true, that, should England engage
in war with any maritime State of Europe, Morocco must be our warm and
active friend or enemy, and, if our enemy, we must again possess
ourselves of our old garrison of Tangier.
[22] So called, it is supposed, from the quantity of aniseed grown in
the neighbourhood.
[23] Near Cape Blanco is the ruined town of Tit or Tet, supposed to be
of Carthaginian origin, and once also possessed by the Portuguese, when
commerce therein flourished.
[24] El-Kesar is a very common name of a fortified town, and is usually
written by the Spaniards Alcazar, being the name of the celebrated royal
palace at Seville.
[25] Marmol makes this city to have succeeded the ancient Roman town of
Silda or Gilda. Mequinez has been called Ez-Zetounah, from the immense
quantities of olives in its immediate vicinity.
[26] Don J. A. Conde says - "Fes or sea Fez, the capital of the realm of
that name; the fables of its origin, and the grandeur of the Moors, who
always speak of their cities as foundations of heroes, or lords of the
whole world, &c., a foible of which our historians are guilty.
Nasir-Eddin and the same Ullug Beig say, for certain, that Fez is the
court of the king in the west. I must observe here, that nothing is less
authentic than the opinions given by Casiri in his Library of the
Escurial, that by the word Algarb, they always mean the west of Spain,
and by the word Almagreb, the west of Africa; one of these appellations
is generally used for the other. The same Casiri says, with regard to
Fez, that it was founded by Edno Ben Abdallah, under the reign of
Almansor Abu Giafar; he is quite satisfied with that assertion, but does
not perceive that it contains a glaring anachronism. Fez was already a
very ancient city before the Mohammed Anuabi of the Mussulmen, and
Joseph, in his A. J., mentions a city of Mauritania; the prophet Nahum
speaks of it also, when he addresses Ninive, he presents it as an
example for No Ammon. He enumerates its districts and cities, and says,
Fut and Lubim, Fez and Lybia, &c.
[27] I imagine we shall never know the truth of this until the French
march an army into Fez, and sack the library.
[28] It is true enough what the governor says about _quietness_, but the
novelty of the mission turned the heads of the people, and made a great
noise among them. The slave-dealers of Sous vowed vengeance against me,
and threatened to "rip open my bowels" if I went down there.
[29] The Sultan's Minister, Ben Oris, addressing our government on the
question says, "Whosoever sets any person free God will set his soul
free from the fire," (hell), quoting the Koran.
[30] A person going to the Emperor without a present, is like a menace
at court, for a present corresponds to our "good morning."
[31] _Bash_, means chief, as Bash-Mameluke, chief of the Mamelukes.
