MEQUINEZ
 

173
 

Mequinez : Bab El Mansur,
 

Timetable, — One day is sufficient to view Mequinez thoroughly, the
mornint^ being given up to a walk round Bab Mansur (p. 176) and Bab Jama
En Nuar, the native districts and the Suks (p. 178), together with the Medersa
Bu Inania (p. 178); in the afternoon we drive round the Hen (p, 180) and the
Aguedal (p, 181); then the Ostrich Farm (p. 181), Bab El Khemis (p, 182)
and Sidi Said (p, 182), from which point we make our way to Bab El Bredain
(p. 179), thus completing the circuit of the town,

IVIEQUINEZ (Fr. Meknes), a Maghzen or Imperial city, built
at an alt. of 530 m. on a plateau bounded, in the N., by the Zerhun
massif, in the S,, by the lower spurs of the Middle Atlas, on the
banks of the Oued Bu Fekran, the waters of which flow into the
Oued Rdom, It is peopled by 36,592 inhab., 2,622 of whom are
Europeans, 28,207 Moslems and 5,763 Jews. It is the capital
of a subdivision comprising 379,407 inhabitants.

Admirably situated on an elongated spur, from which a vefy
fme view is obtained over the camp, the Medina is several kilo¬
metres long. The town proper hes to the N.; the Dar El Maghzen
with its countless outbuildings, testifying to the splendour of
the early Alauite Sultans, to the S. Its suks and its fonduks, the
stalls of its artisans, its streets swarming with Berbers ort market
days, its stately gates and monuments, its many gardens, its
magnificent orchards and olive groves, are a sight to: behold.

At the beginning of the occupation, the Europeans settled in