Travels in Morocco, Volume 2. by James Richardson
page 66 of 181 (36%)
page 66 of 181 (36%)
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places are tolerably well-built. The town is fortified by a battery of
twenty-four pieces of cannon fronting the sea, and a redoubt at the entrance of the river. What navy the Maroquines have, is still laid up here, but the dock-yard is now nearly deserted, and the few remaining ships are unserviceable. The population, all of whom are Mahometans, are now, as in Corsair times, the bitterest and most determined enemies of Christians, and will not permit a Christian or Jew to reside among them. The amount of this population, and that of Rabat, is thus given, _Salee Rabat_ Gräberg 23,000 27,000 Washington 9,000 21,000 Arlett 14,000 24,000 but it is probably greatly exaggerated. A resident of this country reduces the population of Salee as low as two or three thousand. For many years, the port of Salee was the rendezvous of the notorious pirates of Morocco, who, together with the city of Rabat, formed a species of military republic almost independent of the Sultan; these Salee rovers were at once the most ferocious and courageous in the world. Time was, when these audacious freebooters lay under Lundy Island in the British Channel, waiting to intercept British traders! "Salee," says Lemprière, "was a place of good commerce, till, addicting itself entirely to piracy, and revolting from the allegiance to its Sovereign, Muley Zidan, that prince in the year 1648, dispatched an embassy to King Charles 1, of England, requesting him to send a squadron of men-of-war to lie before the town, while he attacked by land." This request being acceded to, the city was soon reduced, the fortifications demolished, and the leaders of the rebellion put to |
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