Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/473



Between the mouths of the Sebu and Um-er-Rbia, the chief settlement is Daret-Beida, better known under its Spanish form, Casablanca, or the "White House."

Founded in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese on the site of the mediæval town of Anfa, Casablanca owes its prosperity mainly to its roadstead, which, though badly sheltered, is deep enough to receive vessels of large tonnage. Its chief exports are maize, wool. and haricot beans, besides slippers, forwarded in thousands