These Towns Are Supplied With Water In A Most Singular Manner From A
River, Called _Rasalema_, Which Takes Its Source In A Valley Near The
Road To Mequinez.
It issues from a rock, about eight or ten feet above
the ground, in a stream, that, from the form of the valley through
which it runs, appears a continued waterfall.
It is conveyed into the
Emperor's garden by means of a large wheel, about twenty-five feet in
diameter, round which, at regular distances, are small buckets, which,
as the wheel goes round, are alternately filled, and emptied into a
reservoir at the top of the wall of the garden. From the reservoir the
water is also conveyed to the upper and lower towns by aqueducts.
On the outside of one of the western gates of Upper Fez are the
gardens of the Emperor, surrounded by a good stone wall, within which
are a number of spacious walks, shaded by rows of tall trees, on each
side, and intersected by parterres and grass-plots, on which are
elegant pavilions, some in a pyramidical, others in a conical form,
where the Emperor frequently retires, to take his repose, or to amuse
himself with his courtiers. These pavilions are between thirty and
forty feet in height, covered on the outside with varnished tiles of
different colours, and contain three and sometimes four neat
apartments, furnished in the most simple style imaginable, having in
general nothing more than a carpet, several couches, a few
arm-chairs, a table, a clock, and a tea-equipage of china. The
cornices round the walls of these apartments are embellished with
passages from the Koran, and other Arabic sentences, carved in
cedar-wood.
The propensity to cheating, so prevalent in all Barbary, is no where
so notorious as in the lower town of Fez; and the Europeans who trade
with the Moorish merchants here must employ the same means as
themselves, or submit to be most flagitiously imposed upon.
I have visited several manufactories of carpets, mats, silk, linen,
and leather, of which the merchants export great quantities. I have
also seen some beautifully embroidered shawls, scarfs, and
sword-knots, of the manufacture of this country. Their exports besides
are, elephants' teeth, ostrich feathers, copper, tin, wool, hides,
honey, wax, dates, raisins, olives, almonds, gum-arabic, and
sandrach. They carry on a considerable trade, by caravans, to Mecca
and Medina, the inland regions of Africa, and to the farthermost parts
of the coast of Guinea; from which last place they bring gold-dust,
and a prodigious number of negroes, some of whom are destined to serve
in the Emperor's armies; the rest are slaves in the Moorish houses and
fields.
The dress of the Moors is composed of a linen shirt, over which they
fasten a cloth or silk vestment with a sash, loose trowsers reaching
to the knee, a white serge cloak, or capote, and yellow slippers:
their arms and legs are quite bare. The principal people are
distinguished by the fineness of their turbans, their linen shirts,
and cloth or silk garments, which are richly embroidered with gold;
when they go abroad, they cover this dress with an alhaik, differing
in quality according to the circumstances of the wearer; and which
they fold round them like a large blanket.
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