CH. II. VIEW OF TETUAN. 39 



into a dungeon and subjected to daily torture. Soldiers 

 were sent to Tetuan, where his house was pillaged, his wives 

 and children led to prison, while the absence of all control 

 led to a rapid growth of crime in the district, and life and 

 property were no longer thought safe in the suiTounding 

 country. 



The approach to Tetuan presented the most picturesque 

 scene that we anywhere beheld in Marocco. Begirt with 

 a lofty wall, set at short intervals with massive square 

 towers, the city shows from a distance only a few mosques 

 and a heavy, frowning heap of masonry that forms the 

 castle or citadel. It stands on the slope of a limestone 

 hill, some two hundred feet above the river, which flows 

 through a broad valley, rich with the most brilliant vege- 

 tation. After riding for hours over the thirsty li ills, it was a 

 delight to rest the eyes on the patches of emerald meadow, 

 and on the darker green of tlie luxuriant orchards, where 

 the best oranges in the world grow along with figs, 

 almonds, peaches, and all our common tree fruit. Amidst 

 all this wealth of greenery many a little white house — a 

 mere cube of chalk — gleamed brightly. Most of these 

 seem to belong to peasant owners, but some are kiosks to 

 which the wealthier inhabitants repair to escape from the 

 heat and bad air of the town. 



"We were not yet familiar with the squalor and neglect 

 that seem the inevitable characteristics of a Moorish town, 

 and it was a disappointment to find the interior of Tetuan 

 correspond so ill to the picturesqueness of its outward 

 aspect. After riding between high walls, apparently 

 forming an inner defence to the town, we went through 

 some streets of mean aspect, and, traversing one wide open 

 space, passed under an interior gate guarded by a sentry, 

 and found ourselves in a labyrinth of narrow alleys de- 

 cidedly cleaner than the remainder of the city. This is 

 the Jewish quarter, where, as in the Jewry or Ghetto of 

 mediaeval Europe, the children of Israel are required to 

 live apart, within a wall and gates that are locked at night, 



