Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/464

 power in Marocco, appears to have been fought, not at the place bearing its name, but 6 miles to the south-east of Larash, on the banks of the Wed-el-Makhzen, a tributary of the Lukkos.

South of Larash the monotonous seaboard follows an unbroken line for 90 miles to the mouth of the Sebu. In the upper part of this river basin lies the central market town of Taza, at an altitude of 2,750 feet, and near the depression between the Rif highlands and the Atlas system. Thus commanding the line of communication between the Sebu and Moluya basins — that is, between West Marocco and Algeria — Taza occupies the most important strategical position in the empire. It belongs officially to the Sultan, although the garrison troops here maintained by

the Government are practically at the mercy of the powerful Riata tribe, who hold the hills north and south of the town, and who are the true masters of the whole district. When Foucauld visited the place in 1883, the whole population, worn out by the oppressive exactions of this tribe, and hopeless of any further help from the Sultan, "were sighing for the happy day when the French would come to their rescue." Nevertheless, a little trade is done with Fez, the coast towns, and the Moluya district, through the intervention of the detested Riatas, who cultivate the hemp and tobacco which supply narcotics to Taza and the other towns of North Marocco,