Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/478

 the monuments, mostly in ruins, one alone can be called fine. This is the mosque of Kutubia, or rather of the Kutsubia, that is, of "the Calligraphers," so named from the writers whose booths adjoin the sacred edifice. The lofty tower dominating the mosque, apparently raised by the architect of the Sevillian Giralda and of the Hassan tower at Rbat, is the finest and highest of the three. Two of the city gates,

one leading to the palace, the other to a mosque, are said to have been transported block by block from Spain.

The local industries have greatly fallen off. Whole streets, formerly inhabited by carriers, are now deserted, and the famous "Marocco" wares formerly prepared by the Moors exiled from Cordova are no longer produced in Marrakesh. The best leatherwork is now made in Fez, although the southern capital still does a large trade in skins with the southern districts of the Atlas. The Marrakesh