Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/479

 MOOADOB. 898 C'arj)et« are carefully woven, yet loss esteenierl than those «if Rbat. At preMent the chief occujwtion of the inhahitants is pirdeninH:. (Jue of the orchards comprisod within the enclosures of the in){K>rial (grounds is said to yield a yearly crop of fruit« valued at £20,000. The zone of ji^rdens stretches for miles in the direction of the hills, and the hamlets occupied by horticulturists are ktou|xx1 in lar^ number* round the ramparts. One of these towards the north-west is exclusively inhabited by a community of lepers, who enjoy self-government, forming a little common- wealth, with its bazaar, prison, Jewish quarter, and mosque d(>dicatcd to a {mtron snint. Towards the south are still visible a few vestiges of the ancient Aghmat, which was formerly capital of the Lamtunas, better known by the name of Mrabotin, that is, the Almoravides, or '* marabuts." An upland valley to the cast of Marrakesh is held by the powerful confederation of the Tiffas, of Zenaga «tock. MuGADOR. At present the chief port of Marrakesh is Siceira, "the Beautiful," better known to Europeans by the name of Mogador, from a shrine erected to a " Saint " Mogdul or Mogdul, over a mile to the south of the town. At this point a harbour formerly existed, as shown by a Spanish map dated 1608. But the present town, which ranks as a seaport next in importance to Tangier and Casablanca, was built a little over a century ago, between the years 1760 and 1773, mainly by French prisoners captured at the time of the disastrous expedition of Larash in 1705. Laid out on a regular plan, Mogador presents a somewhat monotonous asiKHJt, with its uniform blocks of houses, perfect cubes in form, and painted a dull grey colour. It stands at the extremity of a sandy spit stretching southwards, and seiwrutwl by a channel from a fortified island, which defends the shallow and ex|)osed roadstead. The guns spiked at the time of the French bombardment in 1H44 have not yet boon replaced, and the projectiles laimchcd by the French fleet still lie strewn at the foot of the ramparts. The commercial importance of Mogador is due to the fact that it is the outport not only of Marrakesh, but of all the southern Atlas districts, its chief exjwrts to Europe being such local produce as cereals, oils, fruits, hides, gums, wools, and alfu grass. Like that of Saffi, the coastline has here been modified either by erosion or by a subsidence of the soil. In the middle of the present century cattle could easily pass at low water from the Mogador jKniinsula to the neighbouring island, from which it is now separated by a navigable channel. The chief Arab, or at least Arabised, tribes in the Mogador district belong to tho powerful Shiadma confederation, which, while refusing to jM;y tribute, allows free passage to caravans, and recognises the suzerainty of the Sultan. Its villages and convents are scattered over a large tract south of the Wed Tensift between the Jebel-el-IIadid and the advanced spurs of the Atlas. South of Mogador, in the direction of tho headland terminating the main Atlas range, no more towns or even scattered hamlets are now to be seen. Here all the natives live in groups of four or five families in strong stone fortolices, generally of 67 -AF