At A Short Distance,
Towards The East, Is An Exceedingly Spacious Bay, Of Twenty-Two Miles In
Circumference, Where, They Say, A Thousand Ships Of War Could Be
Anchored In Perfect Safety, And Where The Ancient Galleys Of Venice
Carried On A Lucrative Trade With Fez.
Within the bay, three miles
inland, are the ruins of the ancient city of Eazaza, once a celebrated
place.
Alhucemos, is another small island and _praesidio_ of the Spaniards,
containing five or six hundred inhabitants; it commands the bay of the
same name, and is situate at the mouth of the river Wad Nechor, where
there is also the Islet of Ed-Housh. Near the bay, is the ancient
capital, Mezemma, now in ruins; it had, however, some commercial
importance in the times of Louis XIV., and carried on trade with France.
Penon de Velez is the third _praesidio_-island, a convict settlement of
the Spaniards on this coast, and a very strong position, situate
opposite the mouths of the river Gomera, which disembogues in the
Mediterranean. The garrison contains some nine hundred inhabitants. So
far as natural resources are concerned, Penon de Velez is a mere rock,
and a part of the year is obliged to be supplied with fresh water from
the mainland. Immediately opposite to the continent is the city of
Gomera (or Badis), the ancient Parientina, or perhaps the Acra of
Ptolemy, afterwards called Belis, and by the Spaniards, Velez de la
Gomera. The name Gomera, according to J.A. Conde, is derived from the
celebrated Arab tribe of the Gomeres, who flourished in Africa and Spain
until the last Moorish kings of Granada.
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