MEQUINAZ. 
209 
soil composed of very good mould but uncultivated. I re- 
marked several tents of vrandering Arabs pitched beside a 
little river formed by the junction of the rivulets which water 
the environs of Fez. Our road^ which was very uneven, lay 
between two ridges of barren hills, and crossed several well 
constructed bridges. 
About two o'clock we rested under a bridge which shel- 
tered us from the sun. We had in our company two women 
who, being under no restraint, shewed but little solicitude to 
conceal their fair complexions and pretty faces beneath their 
veils ; one of them rode on my mule behind me ; and I 
presume that my attentions were agreeable to her, as she 
offered me a slice of melon and a bit of bread which I ac- 
cepted with pleasure. Our pretty fellow-travellers, however, 
learning that the Emperor had set out for Rabat, returned to 
Fez, and I continued my route with my guide alone ; our 
mules keeping up so good a pace that I estimated our pro- 
gress at four miles an hour. 
At five in the morning we arrived at Mequinaz, the 
streets of which city were as dirty and narrow as those of 
Fez ; and, entering a fandac, I begged to be allowed to sleep 
in a stable, a favour which the master refused in the rudest 
manner. Turning from a place which offered so little hos- 
pitality to an unfortunate stranger, I sought refuge in the 
mosque, the asylum of the indigent : there I hoped to re- 
pose in peace till the morning ; but alas ! I was disappoint- 
ed. About ten at night an old bamab (porter) came to me, 
and kicking me, roughly desired me in a hoarse voice to rise 
and begone, for he was about to shut up. In vain I repre- 
sented myself as a stranger not knowing whither to go, and 
implored him to allow me to pass the night in this retreat : 
without the least regard to my situation he compelled me to 
leave the mosque. Such conduct ought not to have sur- 
prised me, for in this part of Africa, as in some other more 
civilized countries, men are distinguished only by their ap- 
VOL. II. P 
