The land of the Moors; a comprehensive description . m Tingis to Volubilis. It could never have beenmuch of a port, notwithstanding its fair road- . . RoadsteaJ. stead, so it never gained a reputation forpiracy. The little river of Azila which crosses the sandsto the north is of no importance, but a reef of rocks,on which there once stood a dyke, affords indifferentshelter for small boats when they are able to pass thechannel; Spanish fishing fleets, which lie a short wayout to sea, are the only vessels which now frequent thisport, and then but for water. When in 1S94, on thedeath of Mulai el
The land of the Moors; a comprehensive description . m Tingis to Volubilis. It could never have beenmuch of a port, notwithstanding its fair road- . . RoadsteaJ. stead, so it never gained a reputation forpiracy. The little river of Azila which crosses the sandsto the north is of no importance, but a reef of rocks,on which there once stood a dyke, affords indifferentshelter for small boats when they are able to pass thechannel; Spanish fishing fleets, which lie a short wayout to sea, are the only vessels which now frequent thisport, and then but for water. When in 1S94, on thedeath of Mulai el Hasan III., some of the EuropeanPowers sent men-of-war down the coast, the Spanish * Spelled Asila by Ibn 15atuta. Au inhabitaut of Azila is known asan Azilashi. 222 AZILA commander foolishly dropped anchor before this relic ofthe past, which, having neither the means of defencenor of returning the salute which was offered, wasevacuated in hot haste. As recently as i860 the Spa-niards had thought it worth a bombardment, which itcertainly was CITADEL OF AZILA. Photograph by Herbert White^ Esq. In 713 Azila, then possessed by the Goths, fell before the Arabs, who found Christians residing here, ^ and it is reported to have prospered under Early Moorish ,i • j • • .-i j r „ /,... their dommion until we read or a strange occur- Ferioa. ~ _ ^^ rence —looked at in the light of English his-tory,—no less than that it was seized and destroyed byour nation in 933 ^ At that time we should hardly * The following historical references to Azila will be found in TheMoorish Empire: taken by Arabs, 24 j by Ummeyis, 42 5 by Portuguese,no; besieged by Mohammed VIII., 111; Dom Sebastian here, 123;evacuated by Portuguese, 126: Christian martyr, 319; Christian mission, 330. Gayangos, vol. i., p. 252. ^ Leo, (ed. Ram.) p. Sg, and El Bekri. PORTUGUESE PERIOD 223 have expected to encounter our ancestors so far afield,and if they did get there, this was possibly the firstoccas
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