SERAGLIO OR HAREM OF THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO. 47 
a pole, by which they are held under water till they are suffocated. 
The bastinado is likewise inflicted for small offences : and is given 
either to the belly, back, or soles of the feet, according to the plea- 
sure of the cadi, who also appoints the number of strokes. These 
sometimes amount to 200 or 300, according to the indulgence the 
offender can obtain either by bribery or friends ; and hence he often 
dies under this punishment for want of advocates sufficiently pow'erful. 
But the most horrible punishments are those inflicted upon the Jews 
or Christians who speak against Mahomet or his religion ; in which 
cases they must either turn Mahometans or be impaled a live. If they 
afterwards apostatize, they are burnt alive, or else thrown down from 
the top of the city walls, upon iron hooks, where they are caught 
by different parts of their body, according as they happen to fall, 
and sometimes expire in the greatest torments, though by accident 
they may be put out of their pain at once. This terrible punishment, 
however, begins now to be disused. 
Seraglio or Harem of the Emperor of Morocco. 
The following account of this seraglio is extracted from the inte- 
resting tour of M. Lempriere, who being a surgeon, was admitted into 
the harem to prescribe for some of the ladies who were indisposed, 
and was therefore enabled to give a full account of this female prison, 
and of the manners and behaviour of its inhabitants. 
The harem forms a part of the palace. The apartments are very lofty, 
and four of them enclose a spacious square court, into which they 
open by means of large folding doors. In the centre of these courts, 
which are floored with blue and white chequered tiling, is a fountain, 
supplied by pipes from a large reservoir on the outside of the palace, 
which serves for the frequent ablutions recommended by the Maho- 
metan religion. The whole of the harem consists of about twelve of 
these courts, communicating with each other by narrow passages, 
which afford a free access from one part to another, and of which all 
the women are allowed to avail themselves. The apartments are 
ornamented on the outside with beautiful carved wood. In the inside 
most of the rooms are hung with rich damask of various colours : the 
floors are covered with beautiful carpets, and there are mattresses 
disposed at . different distances, for the purpose of sitting and sleep- 
ing The apartments are also furnished at each extremity with an 
elegant European mahogany bedstead, hung with damask, having on 
it several mattresses placed one over the other, which are covered 
with various coloured silks; but these beds are merely for ornament. 
In all the apartments the ceiling is wood carved and painted. 
The principal ornaments were large and valuable looking-glasses, 
hung on various parts of the walls ; clocks and watches of different 
sizes, in glass-cases were, disposed in the same manner. The sultana 
LallaBatoom, and another favourite, were indulged with a whole square 
to themselves ; but the concubines were only each allowed a single 
room. Each female had a separate daily allowance from the emperor, 
proportioned to the estimation in which they were held by him. The 
late emperor’s allowance was very trifling ; Lalla Douyan, the favourite 
