On longer acquaintance, he will somewhat modify his first unfavourable impression. Unlike the towns of Southern Europe, where the main thoroughfares are cared for by the local authorities, while filth is allowed to accumulate in the byeways, the dirt and offal are here let to lie under his nose in the most public places, while the steep narrow lanes—reminding him of Genoa—that intersect the masses of closely packed houses, are generally kept clean and bright with frequent whitewash. The silent dead walls that front the public thoroughfares conceal the interiors of houses that are rarely opened to the eyes of Europeans, but are not wanting in the signs of wealth and of artistic taste. The dread of arbitrary exactions, that elsewhere in Marocco drives the Moor as well as the Jew to conceal the possession of property as carefully as men elsewhere hide the evidence of guilt, is less keenly felt here. For in and around Tangier, but nowhere else in this country, it may be said that life and property are tolerably secure, not only from outward violence, but from the caprice and cupidity of men in authority. The presence of foreign diplomatic agents, and the constant communication with Europe, have brought the Moorish authorities at this spot to some extent under the control of civilised opinion, and the disastrous encounters with France and Spain have convinced the Moor that, with all his personal bravery, he cannot resist the regular forces of his European neighbours, and must not provoke an unequal conflict. Such historical recollections as are connected with Tangier are not flattering to the self-love of the two nations of Europe that have had most to do with it. In 1437 the Portuguese, who then held Ceuta, attacked the town, but their army was defeated under the walls, and they were forced to conclude an ignominious peace. The terms included the cession of Ceuta to the Moors, and the delivery as a hostage of Dom Fernando, the king’s brother. The other stipulations not having been executed, the victors threw Dom Fernando into prison at Fez, and when he died in captivity hung up his body by the heels over the city walls.[1]