Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/312

294 vaults and roofed basins for catching rain-water in the fortress at Mazagan, we could easily surmise that even in this great stronghold they were probably not unfamiliar with the necessities of siege and were so ringed in by a hostile population that they were unable to avail themselves of the fresh water in the river and in the wells and springs near the kubba of Sidi Daoudi.

It would seem that the present inhabitants of the fertile Dukkala country, rich in grain, fruit and cattle, still feel the spirit of the days of Portuguese domination, for they practically never come in except on market days and then remain only so long as is absolutely necessary in this town where so many of their ancestors fell through nearly three centuries of constant fighting. The Dukkala regard Asemmur as their capital, a place which also had its history of strife during those earlier centuries when the Carthaginians first used it to dominate and drain the neighboring country and were then followed by the Romans, who carried with them the inevitable military power that assured the authority of the Caesars.

After our brief survey of these two coastal towns we continued northward and picked up at Casablanca our previous trail.