icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Sign out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon

In Morocco

Chapter 8 THE FIRST VISION

Word Count: 1097    |    Released on: 30/11/2017

efore us out of the plain

ine of the Oued Fez. Thus approached, the city presents to view only a long line of ramparts and fortresses, merging into the wide, tawny plain and framed in barren mountains. Not a

e dust under lofty walls, all the pale faces ringed in curling beards turned to the story-teller in the centre of the group? Transform the story-teller into a rapt young Venetian, and you have the audience and the foreground of Carpaccio's "Preaching of St. Stephen," even to the camels craning inquisi

the savage massacre of foreign residents in 1912 the French encircled the heights commanding Fez with one of their admirably engineered military roads,

perishes, but the architecture, like all else, lingers on half-ruined and half-unchanged. The Merinid tombs, however, are only hollow shells and broken walls, grown part of the b

and ilex, but growing more precipitous as the ravine of the Fez narrows downward with the fall of the river. It is as though some powerful enchanter, aft

their angle fortresses dominating the precipices. Almost on a level with us lies the upper city, the aristocratic Fez Eldjid of painted palaces and gardens, then, as the houses close in and descend more abruptly, terraces, minarets, do

trees of Eldjid. This was Bou-Jeloud, the old summer-palace of the Sultan's harem

lls, wayside pools, and dripping mill-wheels; then one of the city gates engulfed us, and we were in the waste spaces of intramural Fez, formerly the lines of defense of

nge-trees divided by running water we were led to an arcaded apartment hung with Moroccan embroideries and lined with wide divans; the hall of reception of the Resident-General. Through its arches were

bold rose-pink embroideries of Salé and the intricate old needlework of F

thrust its twisted arms. The sun had set, and one after another bright figures appeared on the roofs. The children came first, hung with silver amulets and amber beads, and pursued by negresses in striped turbans, who bu

African towns. All the jewe

d African twilight the terraces blossomed like gardens, and when the moon rose and the muezzin called from the minaret, the domestic squabbles a

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open
In Morocco
In Morocco
“Having begun my book with the statement that Morocco still lacks a guide-book, I should have wished to take a first step toward remedying that deficiency. But the conditions in which I travelled, though full of unexpected and picturesque opportunities, were not suited to leisurely study of the places visited. The time was limited by the approach of the rainy season, which puts an end to motoring over the treacherous trails of the Spanish zone. In 1918, owing to the watchfulness of German submarines in the Straits and along the northwest coast of Africa, the trip by sea from Marseilles to Casablanca, ordinarily so easy, was not to be made without much discomfort and loss of time. Once on board the steamer, passengers were often kept in port (without leave to land) for six or eight days; therefore for any one bound by a time-limit, as most war-workers were, it was necessary to travel[Pg viii] across country, and to be back at Tangier before the November rains. This left me only one month in which to visit Morocco from the Mediterranean to the High Atlas, and from the Atlantic to Fez, and even had there been a Djinn's carpet to carry me, the multiplicity of impressions received would have made precise observation difficult.The next best thing to a Djinn's carpet, a military motor, was at my disposal every morning; but war conditions imposed restrictions, and the wish to use the minimum of petrol often stood in the way of the second visit which alone makes it possible to carry away a definite and detailed impression...”
1 Chapter 1 EL-KSAR TO RABAT2 Chapter 2 THE KASBAH OF THE OUDAYAS3 Chapter 3 ROBINSON CRUSOE'S SALLEE 4 Chapter 4 CHELLA AND THE GREAT MOSQUE5 Chapter 5 VOLUBILIS6 Chapter 6 MOULAY IDRISS7 Chapter 7 MEKNEZ8 Chapter 8 THE FIRST VISION9 Chapter 9 FEZ ELDJID10 Chapter 10 FEZ ELBALI11 Chapter 11 EL ANDALOUS AND THE POTTERS' FIELD12 Chapter 12 MEDERSAS, BAZAARS AND AN OASIS13 Chapter 13 THE LAST GLIMPSE14 Chapter 14 THE WAY THERE15 Chapter 15 THE BAHIA16 Chapter 16 THE BAZAARS17 Chapter 17 THE AGDAL18 Chapter 18 ON THE ROOFS19 Chapter 19 THE SAADIAN TOMBS20 Chapter 20 THE CROWD IN THE STREET21 Chapter 21 A D-EL-KEBIR22 Chapter 22 THE IMPERIAL MIRADOR23 Chapter 23 IN OLD RABAT24 Chapter 24 IN FEZ25 Chapter 25 IN MARRAKECH26 Chapter 26 No.2627 Chapter 27 No.2728 Chapter 28 No.2829 Chapter 29 THE BERBERS30 Chapter 30 PHENICIANS, ROMANS AND VANDALS31 Chapter 31 THE ARAB CONQUEST32 Chapter 32 ALMORAVIDS AND ALMOHADS33 Chapter 33 THE MERINIDS34 Chapter 34 THE SAADIANS35 Chapter 35 THE HASSANIANS36 Chapter 36 No.3637 Chapter 37 No.3738 Chapter 38 No.3839 Chapter 39 No.3940 Chapter 40 BOOKS CONSULTED