141 
The weather was distressing, the rain fell in showers, 
and it blew very hard and without interruption from 
the west. 
The town of Suttee seemed to be very small, and by 
no means wealthy; but at Rabat some well constructed 
buildings were to be seen. 
The passage of the river kept us for an hour and 
an half, as the mules had to be loaded and unloaded. 
There is about five and twenty to thirty boats employ- 
ed for the passage of this river. Every boat is con- 
ducted by a single man with two oars. The river may, 
at the spot where we passed it, be about one hundred 
fathoms wide, and the distance to the bar is about three 
hundred fathoms. At the upper part of our passage, 
three Mahometan vessels, and a French one of about 
80 tons, were lying at anchor. 
The instant I debarked at Rabat, I made the gover- 
nor apprized of it, who sent to me on the spot one of his 
officers in order to compliment me on my arrival; he 
was also charged to exempt me from paying the duty 
of the passage. The alcassaba or castle was assigned 
to me to lodge in; it had a fine view on the sea and on 
the land side. Soon after I took possession of my lod- 
gings, the governor sent me an abundant quantity of pro- 
visions and forage, and during all my stay 1 was provi* 
ded in the same manner. 
The weather was charming on the 5th and 6th, and 
by observations I calculated the latitude and longitude; 
the former of them 34" 4' 27" N. and the latter, compa- 
red with the observations which I made after my return 
from Morocco, 8° 17' 30" West, from the observatory 
of Paris. 
I staid five days at Rabat, for my people as well as 
my mules had suffered very much from the bad roads 
