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the grandees in times of rebellion to defend their hou- 
ses against the rabble, and also in the different wars 
of the scherifs for the succession to the throne; hence 
four or six men are sufficient to defend one of these 
lanes, and to make it unassailable. The houses are like 
forts, and mine was like a strong castle. 
The architecture of the houses of Morocco is the 
same as that of the other cities of the empire; that is to 
say, the houses have a court-yard, with galleries or cor- 
ridors surrounding them; with long and narrow rooms 
inside; they have no light but from the doors. The 
principal houses have two or more such court-yards; I 
had five to mine. Very few mansions have windows 
towards the streets. Several houses are built of stone, 
but the most of them are made of mortar composed of 
lime, earth, and sand, which is beaten between two 
planks fixed to the two surfaces of the wall, and this is 
called Tabbi. 
The city of Morocco contains several public squares 
©r market places; but, like the streets, they are not paved, 
and are therefore very dirty when it rains, and covered 
with dust in dry weather. 
Amongst the great number of mosques at Morocco, 
six of them may be distinguished for their size. The 
principal ones are El Kutubia, El Moazinn, and that of 
Benious* The mosque El Kutubia stands by itself in the 
middle of a very large open square; it is of an elegant 
architecture, and its minaret, which is very high, has 
great resemblance to that of Sallee. The mosque of 
Benious was built 652 years ago; it is of a large size, 
but of a strange construction, uniting ancient and mo- 
dern architecture; because a great part of it has been 
i 
