Moors had in the differences between ance and commerce which subsist be Carthage and Rome; their fervitude under the yoke of the Romans, and under that of the Vandals, till the defeat of thefe laft under the Emperor Juftinian, will here be objects of our attention. As the fecond book relates to the invafion of Africa by the Arabs, and as there is a striking affinity between that people and the Moors, I have indulged myself in fome difquifitions with regard to the Arabs and Mahomet. It is impoffible to withhold our admiration from that astonishing man, who, after having armed his profelytes with the weapon of fanaticifm, led them beyond the deferts. to places where they were unknown, in order to revenge the inhabitants of the tyranny of Rome, and to fucceed to its dominion over great part of the world. This book fhews the ftate of the Arabs before and after Mahomet, their firft conquefts in Afia, and their arrival in Africa, where they were confounded with the Moors. In the third book, I treat of the irruption of the Arabs into Spain, of their conquefts, of their independence on the Caliphs of the East, of their alliances with the Kings of Fez and Morocco, whofe fovereignty they acknowledge, and of all thofe revolutions which took place till the expulfion of the Mahometans from Spain. I shall speak, in a feparate chapter, of the conquefts of the Portuguese on the coaft of Morocco. The fourth book comprehends the particular history of the Empire of Morocco; its prefent ftate, its provinces, towns, religion, and government; the genius, manners, and cuftoms of the people; and the series of fovereigns, in the different dynasties, that have reigned at Fez or Morocco; beginning with Edris, the defcendant of Mahomet, and with Aly, from the end of the 8th century to the prefent time. I then conclude my work with an abridgment of the treaties of alli tween the nations of Europe and the empire of Morocco. Defcription of the City of Morocco. THE city of Morocco is feated One Defcription of the City of Morocco. One would hardly believe that an imperial city could be fo wretched and fo deferted. I do not imagine that it contains 30,000 inhabitants, even at the time when the court refides there. There are feveral pretty large mofqucs in Morocco, but they have nothing magnificent in their appearance one of them has a tower like thofe of Salee and Seville, which is feen at a great diftance. There are many folitary inclofures embellished with gardens of orange trees; thefe inclosures contain fome tents in which the princes and the principal people lodge; and being covered with coloured and varnished tiles, the remarkable gaiety of their appearance forms a ftriking contraft with the mifery of the environs. We must include, in the number of the public edifices, an inclosed structure at Morocco, (and the fame thing is to be found in all the cities of the empire) which is destined for the fale of Ituffs and other valuable goods. It is called Elcaifleria. But thefe ftructures in Barbary are not to be compared with thofe of the fame kind in Turkey, which are called Bezeftin. At the extremity of the city, and clofe to the palace, are the fuburbs called the Jewry, two miles in circumference, and walled in: here the Jews refide under the guard of an Al caide to preferve them from infult. In this place formerly lived the Spanish Grandees, and other individuals of that nation, who, from difcontent, or other motives, had engaged in the fervice of the kings of Morocco; and there is ftill a place called the Andalufian quarter. These fuburbs were afterwards occupied by more than three thousand Jewifh families, as may be eafily conceived by the ruins of their houfes and fynagogues. Of this vaft population, there now hardly remain two hundred families, expofed to fuch tyranny and mifery, that they have been forfaken by the reft, who have fled to the mountains, where they en 399 joy more quiet, notwithstanding the ferocity of the people that inhabit fuch places. The palace of the Emperor, fituated in the fkirts of the city oppofite to Mount Atlas, covers a vaft fpace of ground, and is ftrongly built. The principal entrances are gateways of hewn ftone, with pointed arches, loaded with ornaments in the Arabic taste. The fpace is divided into different courts, and contains many gardens, that are kept in excellent order by European gardeners. In each of these is a pavilion, in which the Emperor comes to repofe, or to converfe with the people of his court: these pavilions are fquare buildings, extending 40 feet in front, and fomewhat lefs in height, terminating in a pyramid ; they are covered with varnished tiles of different colours; the infide of each pavilion forms a falloon, which receives the light by four great doors that are on the four fides, and which are opened more or lefs according to the pofition of the fun, and in proportion to the freshnefs to be received at them. The faloons are painted within of feveral colours, and gilded in the Moorish tafte: the ornaments are fo difpofed as to form compartments, in which are written paffages from the Koran, or other Arabic fentences. The furniture in the faloons is very fimple, confifting of a couch, or canopy, fome arm-chairs, tables with porcelaine, or other ornaments, the neceffary apparatus for tea-drinking; clocks, arms hung against the wall, a bafon, and carpets for kneeling at prayers. The pavilion which contains the apartments in which the Emperor lives with his women, is in one of the gardens. The distribution of these apartments is pretty extenfive in conformity with their mode of living; for the tafte of nations in this refpect is every where regulated by their customs and wants. In this place there are few ornaments, and no finery in the moveables, but every thing is fimple; that that extravagance of decoration and fuperfluity of furniture which Europeans have adopted, and which, from their induftry, luxury, and ficklenefs, continue to multiply daily, are totally unknown in these countries. The reigning Emperor, who has a predilection for the city of Morocco, has added to his palace a new fpot, on which he has caufed regular pavilions, furrounded with gardens, to be built by European artifts. Thefe pavilions, formed of hewn ftone, with beautiful windows, are in an excellent tafte, and give this place an air of grandeur and magnificence which is wanting in the others. The ground that feparates these pavilions from the old palace, forms a vaft circuit furrounded by walls, called Mechouar, where the Emperor gives his public audiences four times a-week. The entrance to this place from the country is by a large gate, which is never opened but about an hour before the Mechouar. Mount Atlas, which bounds the plain of Morocco, and which is fituated but a little to the East of it, ap pears here to the greateft advantage; its vallies, interfected with trees and verdure, which are loft in the fnow that lies on the fummit, form a very fingular and beautiful profpect. That chain of mountains defends the neighbourhood of Morocco from the East wind, which would be infufferably hot in Summer, while the fnows of Mount Atlas temper the heat of the climate. The nights are, always cool, and the great heats are only felt from nine o'clock in the morning till four or five in the afternoon: the cold is pretty intenfe in Winter, because of the fnow which falls on the mountains; but, upon the whole, the climate is very healthful. However, the living at Morocco is not very agreeable to ftran gers, on account of the dirtinefs of the houfes, which are full of fleas, and be caufe in Summer numbers of fcorpi ons, as well as ferpents, endeavour to get into the houses to avoid the heat; and the gnats there are exceffively troublefome. About a league from Morocco runs the river Tanfif, which takes its rife in Mount Atlas, and falls into the ocean a little to the South of Saffi: in Summer, this river may be forded; there is, however, a bridge of brick, pretty long, but much neglected, which was built about the end of the fixteenth century, by the Portuguese flaves who furvived the defeat of the army of Don Sebastian. Befides the rivulets that defcend from Mount Atlas to water the plains of Morocco, fome writers have spoken in high terms of the aqueducts that bring water to the city and its envi rons; but thefe are nothing but fubterraneous channels rudely dug in the earth about fifteen or twenty feet be low the furface. Of the American Minerals, particularly Silver, and the Manner of extrac ting it *. THE HE defire of riches, and efpecially of thofe precious metals which can procure all the commodi ties of human life, has been a uniform paffion among men who are in the leaft raised above a state of nature. There are attractions in gold and fil ver, which even, independent of their commercial ufes, feem to have a fafcinating power over the human mind. Thefe metals give law, in a great meafure, to the world in its prefent ftate, *From Memoires Philofophiques Hifloriques Phyfiques concernant la decouverte de l'Amerique, &c. Par Don Ulloa. Juft published. and the Manner of extracting it. ftate, and the kings of the earth would ceafe to command refpect from one another, were not their fovereignty rendered effectual by their treafures. Gold and filver not only prescribe the most cogent laws by which men are governed, but also fettle the value of all the neceffaries and accommodations of life, the demands for which rife or fall in proportion to their abundance or fcarcity. Among thofe objects of demand, the chief is the labour of man, which, from the moft ordinary, to the moft refined and skilful exertion, is rewarded by a portion of these precious metals, now the general recompence of talents and merit of every kind. The Chinese, who have no gold or filver in their own country, labour inceffantly to obtain them. Yet no nation on earth needs them lefs. The Europeans grudge no pains to procure them, for the fake of fupplying the Chinefe. The Moors of Africa exercife a conftant business of piracy, and of carrying off flaves from other nations, in order to obtain money by the ranfom of their captives; while yet thefe African tribes are almost entirely barbarous and deftitute of commerce. The infatiable cupidity of the Europeans leads them to brave every danger in the purfuit of gold and filver, and even to destroy one another in cruel wars, carried on for no other reafon than to increase the proportion of them poffeffed by their refpective nations. The Americans dig into the bow els of the earth, and defcend into its deepest caverns in purfuit of the fame univerfal objects of idolatry. They, however, of all mankind, reap the least benefit from this purfuit: the precious metals foon difappear from among their hands, and haften to enrich the inhabitants of another hemifphere. The power of gold and filver is fuch as to fway men in all their faculties. It cements the bonds of our focial nature, and promotes an univerfal intercourfe among the inhabitants of the earth. VOL. VI. No 36. 40% In fact, were it not for this bond of alliance, the various tribes of mankind would bestow no confideration on any region but their own, overlook all the reft of their fellow-creatures on the globe, and esteem every discovery of diftant countries as an idle and unprofitable exertion. But the glancing of a portion of gold on a diftant coaft, invites the bold adventurer to approachi it in fpite of every danger and difficulty. Gold and filver may, therefore, be confidered as the general bond which unites the human race by reciprocal intereft. Time and labour, and induftry and talents, bufinefs and leifure, nay, in a certain fenfe, life and death themselves, all are estimated by this univerfal standard. Nature itself feems to have concurred in establishing the value of these metals, by the fcarcity in which it produces them, and the toils it hath annexed to their acquifition. Without this they would foon ceafe to be precious: but they are not to be found every where, and, therefore, the inhabitants of thofe countries which do not produce them are obliged to employ every refource in their power to obtain them by other means. Certain indications, indeed, of these metals, appear in most parts of the globe; but, in"general, the quantity is fo inconfiderable, and the difficulty of procuring them fo great, that the fame industry may be much more fuccefsful applied to other means of gaining a fhare in these unequal, and therefore precious bounties of nature. America has the advantage of containing mines of gold and filver incomparably more numerous and productive than those in any other quarter of the globe. The original inhabitants of that great continent, as well as of the Weft-Indian iflands, are the most indolent of all mortals. Even thofe among them who are reckoned moft civilized, can only be excited to activity by fear or compulfion. Left to their own choice, they pass 3 D whole whole days without ftirring from one Spot. Accordingly, the gold and filver, found in their mines, quickly escape from their hands, and go to enrich other poffeffors. Not only are thefe metals extracted from the bowels of the earth with great difficulty and labour, but it would even appear that the Author of all meant to increafe the difficulty of their acquifition, by every obftacle that natural fituation can produce. The regions in which they abound are not only feparated from the other quarters of the globe by an extenfive ocean, but diftinguished alfo by ftupendous mountains; compared with which all the other inequalities on the furface of the earth appear trifling and inconfiderable. But from thefe diftant and inacceffible coafts, more than from all the rest of the world, are brought thofe rare and precious fubftances, whofe magic power hath acquired fo exten five an influence over all ranks of men in civilized fociety. Hiftory informs us, that even from the most ancient times, gold and filyer have been employed as ftandards for fettling the value of the other commodities of life: but, fince the difcovery of America, the eager defire of procuring thefe metals has been the principal fpring that hath excited the activity of mankind. The mutual commerce of nations, to which this has gi yen rife, has contributed to the civilization of many barbarous tribes, and erected a new empire upon the unstable waves. The arts of life have been carried farther; industry hath been improved, mankind have become enlightened, the globe hath been explored, its various productions analyfed, claffified, and applied to useful purpoles. But though thefe advantages are now not to be denied, yet it is certain that the first discovery of those treafures produced the most deftruetive effects, especially to the nation in whofe territory they were found. The barbarous cruelty and oppreffion which they endured, in confequence. of this unhappy distinction of their foil, have almost extinguished them from among the inhabitants of the globe. Thofe wars to which the infatiable defire of riches has given rife in other regions, though perhaps intermitted a little from time to time, leave generally fome fpark behind them, ready to kindle anew the flames of contention. Not that wars were unknown on earth before the abun dance of the precious metals, for the heart of man can never rest satisfied with the mere neceffaries, nor even with the moderate accommodations of life; but these factitious riches, af ter they were discovered, became the great objects of defire, although they are often the ruin of thofe countries in which they abound to the greatest degree. The kingdom of Peru is one of thofe vaft repofitories in which Nature hath ftored up this rich production. Be fides gold and filver, by the abundance of which it is chiefly diftinguished, there are alfo lead, copper, tin, quickfilver; with the femi-metals of antimony, cobalt, arfenack, &c. The former, however, are the objects of principal purfuit, as being most precious, and of the moft univerfal demand among all nations. The latter, tho' not altogether neglected, are objects of much inferior attention. It would appear that the great elevation of this country is one of the circumstances which contribute to that abundant production of filver for which it is fo remarkable. Small quantities of this metal, indeed, are fometimes found in thofe gullies which have their iffue from between the mountains into the level country: But experience has afcertained, that filver is found chiefly in high and cold fituations, while the formation of gold, on the other hand, feems to be connected generally with the powerfnl influences of folar heat, although it is likewife fometimes |