73 
are fissured or bulging, or leaning out of the perpendi- 
cular, which gives them an appearance of ruins and de- 
struction. 
Fez has a great number of mosques; it is said that 
they amount to more than two hundred. The princi- 
pal one is called EUCaroubin^ which contains above 
three hundred pillars; but it is of a heavy and mean 
construction. In its architecture it is not unlike the 
great mosque of Tangier, except that it has a greater 
number of arches, but of the same size, form, and pro- 
portion as in the other. This building is constructed 
of bricks, stones, and lime, but without pillars, or any 
other architectural ornament. It has a great number of 
gates, and two handsome fountains in the court. But 
this famous temple is not to be compared with the cathe- 
dral which I saw at Cordova in Spain; the latter is in- 
finitely superior in magnificence and in size. The tow- 
er or minaret of the Caroubin is small, and without any 
striking effect. 
The plan on which this mosque, and almost all the 
mosques of this country, are built, is uniform. They all 
have a yard surrounded by arcades, and on the southern 
part a covered square or parallelogram, supported by se- 
veral rows of arcades. In the middle of the main wall, 
facing south or south-east, is the El-Mehreb, the niche 
where the Imaum places himself to direct the prayers. 
At the left side is the small stair-case vc pulpit called 
k El-Moubar, from which the sermon & preached every 
Friday. 
The same distribution is visible in the cathedral of 
Cordova. It is therefore evident, that it was a religious 
edifice, built by the Moors, and not a work of the Ro- 
mans, intended for a forum, as some inhabitants of Cor- 
dova contend; though the pillars may have been taken 
