Marocco and the Moors: being an account of travels, with a general description of the country and its people . NEIGHBOURHOOD. The investigation of the city of Marocco and it&neighbourhood was in the strictest sense thepursuit of knowledge under difficulties. Yetceaseless perseverance effected much, and I saw agreat deal of this semi-civilized place. Marocco is called by the Moors Marakech; thederivation of this is unsettled, but it is supposedto have been taken from certain wells that in earlyages existed on its site. In the vicinity are stilltraces of the ruins of a Eoman town—BocanumHermerum
Marocco and the Moors: being an account of travels, with a general description of the country and its people . NEIGHBOURHOOD. The investigation of the city of Marocco and it&neighbourhood was in the strictest sense thepursuit of knowledge under difficulties. Yetceaseless perseverance effected much, and I saw agreat deal of this semi-civilized place. Marocco is called by the Moors Marakech; thederivation of this is unsettled, but it is supposedto have been taken from certain wells that in earlyages existed on its site. In the vicinity are stilltraces of the ruins of a Eoman town—BocanumHermerum. The modern city of Marocco hasclaims to antiquity. It was founded in the year454 of the Hegira, or 1072 of the Christian Sid Youssef Ben Tachenfin built a mosque,as also a citadel, wherein to store his wealth; thenhis followers and many people of the surroundingcountry, seeking the protection of this citadel,raised houses around it. After the death ofYoussef, his son Ali fortified the gro\^ing city,and adorned it with other mosques and publicbuildings. Its progress at that period seems in-. THE CITY AND ITS NEIGIIBOUKHOOD. 155 credible. Before the death of Ali it is said tohave contained 100,000 families. It was sur-rounded by a strong stone wall, and thus protected,the inhabitants flonrished and soon excelled in thearts and sciences; and so greatly as to lead theMoors of Spain, Algiers, and Tunis to send theirchildren thither for instrnction. The spoils ofAndalusia flowed into the favonred city, and theaddition of an active commerce with the interiorof Africa soon raised it to a position of greatwealth and corresponding luxnry. The fall ofthe Moors in Spain was the first cause of itsdecline; civil wars interrupted its commerce; vastnumbers of citizens emigrated therefrom; till inthe end it was brought into that state of decayand partial ruin in which it has since remained.^^This noble city, wrote Leo Africanus, isaccounted to be one of the greatest cities inthe who
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