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very unequal, and the same street is in some parts broad, and in others narrow. The entries to houses of consequence are formed by lanes so narrow and crooked that a horse can with difficulty pass. Half a dozen men may defend one of these lanes, and the house becomes a castle. The houses, like all the others in the empire, consist of rooms, built on every side of a square court, each with a door opening to the court, but having no window. The principal houses have two, or more, of these courts; very few have windows towards the street.

The roofs are of terras, to appearance flat, but having an insensible declivity, which conducts the rain water, through pipes, into the subterraneous cistern. The moveables within consist chiefly of mats, carpets, a chest, a low table, and a bed which runs along one end of the room, and is concealed by a curtain.

Every house in the city of Marocco has a serpent, or will retain one when it approaches, and food is left at night for it, by which it is gradually domesticated. These serpents are said to be very sagacious, and susceptible of kindness, and their presence is considered as a token of good fortune. They are not often visible; but they are sometimes seen crawling along the beams of the roof of an apartment, and they have been known to suck the breasts of women, while asleep. The feet of the bedsteads are frequently set in tubs of water, to avoid bugs and scorpions.

The Jews' quarter is about a mile in circumference. The Jews live in great filth; and the dunghills and ruins are, in some places, as high as the houses. The city of Maroksh, or Marocco, h Ali Bey.

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which once contained about 700,000 inhabitants, was said in 1795 to contain only 270,000; i and in 1803 the numbers were said to be reduced, by war and pestilence, to 30,000.

k The Kassina is a part of the town where stuffs, and other valuable articles are exposed to sale. It is composed of a number of small shops, formed in the walls of the houses, about a yard from the ground, and of such a height within as just to admit of a man's sitting cross-legged. The goods and drawers are so arranged, that he reaches every article without moving, and serves his customers as they stand in the street. These shops, which are found in all other towns of the empire, afford a striking example of the indolence of the Moors. 1 Here people resort, as to an exchange in Europe, to transact business and hear news; and independent gentlemen often hire one of these shops, and pass their mornings in it, for their

amusement.

A market is held at Marocco every Thursday, at which are sold prodigious numbers of horses, camels, and cattle, and great quantities of grain, fruit, and other articles. To these may be added slaves. The crier conducts these through the market, crying, occasionally, "Fifty dollars on the increase!" When he finds no farther advance in the price offered, he reports it to the owner, who either accepts it, or takes the chance of another market day, as he pleases.

In Marocco is a tower with three golden balls on its top, weighing, together, 1,205 pounds, avoirdupoise. Several emperors, when in want of money,

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have endeavoured to take them down, but without success, as they are firmly and artfully fixed. It is said that they are guarded by a spirit; and it is probable that nothing less than the belief of supernatural guardianship could have defeated human attempts to send them to the mint. Another tower in this city is seven stories high, and has walls four feet thick. The ascent is not by stairs, but by a winding road of hard cement, by which it is said that a horse may mount to the top. From the lantern, at the top, may be seen Cape Cantin, distant about 120 miles.

The minarets of the mosques are square, as broad at the top as at the base. On these are erected a smaller square, with a flag-staff, from which is suspended every day, at noon, a flag, the signal of preparation for prayers. Some of the mosques are paved with black and white marble, in alternate squares; some with glazed tiles, about two inches square, of blue, green, and white; and others are covered with terras, which is composed of lime and small stones, beaten down with wooden mallets. The mosques have no ornaments. The place where the Fakeer reads prayers is covered with mats, or carpets; the rest of the floor, on which the people prostrate themselves, is bare, except that some individuals have the skins of lions or leopards, finely dressed. On entering the mosque every man takes off his slippers.

m The Imauns, who regulate the prayers, and the Mueddens who give notice of the hours for their observance, work and pay taxes; and if one of these happen to be absent from the mosque, any

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other person may officiate for him. The Muhamedans believe the divine missions of Noah, Abraham, and Christ, and acknowledge Christ to be the Spirit of God, and the Son of a Virgin; but they deny his death, as, according to the koran, he ascended into Heaven without dying. A Jew cannot be admitted into the corps of the Faithful, without professing his belief in Jesus Christ". The Muhamedans believe that the Arabic is the most eloquent language in the world, and that it is the one which will be spoken at the day of judgment.

sermons.

On Friday a discourse is preached similar to our The Moors do not shut their shops wholly on this day, but they work less than on the others; and they will not work for Christians at all, unless they are extraordinarily or clandestinely paid; when they will condescend to do almost any thing.

In all Muhamedan countries in Africa, the gates of the towns are shut on a Friday during service in the mosques; as they believe, according to ancient tradition, that their country will, at this time, be attacked by Christians, and taken from them by surprise.

Total immersion is practised by the rich; washing the head, arms, hands, and feet, by the poor. Dog and hog are synonimous terms of contempt and detestation. If either of these animals have drank from a cup, a Muselman will not use it till it have been washed seven times; nor will he sit where a dog has been; nor wear its skin, though made into leather.

• The palace of the sultan is composed of a

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groupe of vast buildings. Within its walls are apartments for the sovereign, for his sons, for a legion of women belonging to each, and for the different officers of the court. There are two mosques, three gardens, and three immense courts in which the sultan gives his public audiences. The whole has the appearance of a town, and is about three miles in circumference. On entering, we first pass through the courts of audience; then a fourth court, in which is the guard-house; then we arrive at a fifth court, in the centre of which is a small square room, elevated some feet from the ground, where the great officers wait the orders of the sultan. This court leads into an anti-chamber filled with pages and guards, and the chamber opens into a garden planted with oranges, grapes, and other fruits P, and containing a pavilion, about forty feet square, covered with a pyramidal roof of glazed tiles of various colours. The inside is painted and gilt in the Arabesque style, and ornamented with passages from the koran, in square compartments. The furniture is simple; consisting only of two sofas, a clock, some china, a water-pot, carpets to kneel upon in prayer, and a few arms, which are hung round the walls. Here the emperor takes coffee or tea, transacts business with his officers, and admits foreign merchants to their audience of ceremony 4, In the interior of the palace are some very handsome apartments, with large windows looking to the garden'. The second garden resembles the first. The third, which is called the garden of the Neel, from its containing the fruits and flowers

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