a loud voice, under the colonnade surrounding the latter building, which gives an air of solemnity to the place, impressing with awe the minds of the passengers, who halt and repeat an ejaculatory prayer. The town and walls of Rabat having been built by Spanish slaves, taken by the Sultan El Monsor, in his wars with Spain, are not very strong; and it has even been reported that the Christians expressly built the houses weak, that the roofs might fall on the Moors, which, it is also said, actually happened, and the Emperor, in retaliation, ordered the same Spaniards to be decapitated at the iron gate.[43] This Sultan repaired the Roman well at Shella, and built a spacious mosque at Rabat, the roof of which was supported by 360 columns of marble; toward the east were apartments for those who had employment in the mosque. Many of the rough marble columns are still remaining, broken and scattered about; there are also the remains of a large (mitfere) subterranean cistern, which was attached to the mosque, the tower of which is called (Sma Hassen,) the tower of Beni Hassen, so named from the province in which it stands. I have frequently visited this curious tower, and once went to the top of it with a very ingenious Frenchman, the Comte de Fourban;[44] it is built of hewn stone, and is 180 feet in height: the view from it is pleasing and extensive. It has a gradual ascent to the top, made of a mixture of lime and sand, which time has so hardened, that when the Emperor Seedy Mohammed ordered the building to be destroyed (he having been informed that it was a place of assignation to gratify illicit passions), the workmen, after hammering at it for several days, were able only to destroy a few cubits of the terraced floor; the Emperor afterwards came to Rabat, and having been informed of the slow progress of the workmen, he himself visited the tower, and was so struck with the durability of the work, that he ordered them to desist, and caused the entrance to be closed up, which, however, has since been opened. A man on horseback may ride up to the top of this building. At every two or three circles of the terrace are apartments, built of solid stone. It is reported that this tower, the grand tower at Marocco, and the tower of Seville in Spain, were built after the same plan, and by the same architect, in the 12th century. At a small distance to the north of it, are to be seen the ruins of an ancient wall, on which were formerly erected a battery and a castle.