Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/857

 MOROCCO 839 which the best, that of Tetuan, at the mouth of the little river Martil, is unfit for large vessels. On the Atlantic coast, besides Tangier in the strait of Gibraltar, the principal harbors are : El-Araish (Larash), Rabat, Casablanca (Dar el- ~iaida), Mazagan (Jedyda), Saffi (Asfy), and Mogadore. Mazagan has a bay protected by le land against all dangerous winds, and is the only harbor on the coast possessing natural advantages which might make it a good port of the second class. The Portuguese founded an establishment here in 1506, but abandoned it in 1769. The country back of Mogadore is composed of hills of moving sand, and the place would have no existence but for the will of the sovereign. It was founded in 1760 by Sidi Mohammed, who closed Agadir, the port of Sus, once the best and most important in empire, from fear that the inhabitants, en- iched by foreign commerce, would assert their idependence. There are a few smaller and limportant ports at the mouths of rivers. le interior is divided into two great slopes by e Atlas mountains, which traverse it from N. to S. W. The chain is composed of several lei ranges, connected with each other, and jveral separate lesser chains, preserving gen- erally the same parallelism, divide the country between the main range and the Atlantic into fertile valleys and plains. On the Mediterranean coast a maritime range, called Er-Rif, from 2,500 to 3,500 ft. high, extends from Nemours in Algeria to the strait of Gibraltar ; and there are also several chains running to the coast at right angles to the main range. Of the infe- rior chains on the southeast but little is known. The main range of the Atlas contains some of the most elevated peaks in N. Africa, many of which are covered with snow the greater part of the year. Miltzin, a peak about 30 m. S. E. of Morocco, is 11,500 ft. high. From all these mountains flow numerous streams, to which the natives give the general name of wed or wad. None of them are navigable, and many disap- pear in summer in the sands of the desert. Most of them change their names several times during their course. The principal rivers of the N. W. slope are the Lucos, Sebu, Bure- krag, Umm er-Rebiah, and the Tensift, all of which empty into the Atlantic ; those of the S. E. slope are the Muluia, which falls into the Mediterranean, the Ghir, which is lost in the desert, and the Draa, Nun, and Sus, which empty into the Atlantic. All the rivers are rapid, and in spring and summer the larger ones cannot be forded with safety. Little is known of the geology of Morocco, but gneiss is supposed to be the principal formation in the Atlas. Marbles of different kinds are found, one of which is as white as Carrara marble. It is probable that the celebrated Numidian marbles of the Roman writers came from the Atlas. Gold in quartz veins is also found in these mountains, and galena rich in silver in the metamorphic rock in different parts of the country. Copper, iron, tin, nickel, cobalt, and antimony are abundant in Sus. At the foot of Jebel Hadyd, 15 or 16 m. N. E. of Mogadore, are numerous traces of ancient iron mines, which are supposed to have been worked by the Carthaginians. The ore found there is fine and rich. Sulphur, rock salt, and nitre are found in various places; and there are nu- merous mineral springs, of which the hydro- sulphurous springs of Mulai Yakub near Fez are said to cure cutaneous affections and scrof- ula. On the great slope N. W. of the Atlas range the climate is temperate and delightful. A re- freshing sea breeze prevails during the greater part of the year, and the hot winds from the desert are intercepted by the mountains. On the plain of the city of Morocco it is hot in summer, but the thermometer seldom rises above 95, and in winter it seldom falls below 40. The mean annual temperature is about 64. Snow never falls there, but the winds from the glaciers of the Atlas occasionally make the nights very cold. At Mogadore the extreme fluctuation of the thermometer does not exceed 35; the annual rainfall averages 21 inches. The year is divided into a wet and a dry sea- son; during the former, from November to March, showers are frequent; but during the other part of the year rain seldom falls. Toward the south there is less rain; and on the S. E. side of the mountains our knowledge of the climate is very imperfect, but extremes of heat and cold are supposed to prevail, and rain to be entirely wanting. The Atlas moun- tains are clothed with luxuriant forests, in which are found the live oak, the cork oak, and the oak with edible acorns ; the Aleppo pine, cedar of Lebanon, spruce, locust, and juniper ; the thuja, which produces sandarach, the eu- phorbia, and other valuable gum trees ; and in Sus flourishes the argan, the seeds of whose fruit produce a valuable oil, much used by the natives. The principal fruits are the date palm, olive, orange, grape, citron, banana, fig, almond, and pomegranate ; but all the other fruits of southern Europe and northern Africa, and many of those of more tropical climes, grow in perfection. Among the wild plants of the southern provinces are the caper, the archil, the dagmuz or tikiut with a juice like honey, and the fernun or talelt, which also furnishes a sweet milky juice. Agriculture is in a very primitive state, and but a very small part of the arable land is cultivated. The annual pro- duction is scarcely sufficient to supply the wants of the people, and when the harvests fail fam- ine ensues. Yet Morocco might become, under an enlightened government, one of the most productive regions of the world. Wheat, bar- ley, maize, millet (durra), and other cereals grow to perfection, but barley is the principal grain; cotton does well, and rice and sugar cane would succeed if properly cultivated; flax, hemp, and tobacco are raised to a limited extent ; and beans, peas, lentils, sesamum, saf- fron, canary grass, and in some parts a few turnips, are cultivated in sufficient quantities to