Thus have been estranged the land and the water, and the approach to each is closed from the other. Such is the defence of Morocco on the ocean side: its iron-bound coast on the Mediterranean is scarcely a less formidable bulwark. To the east, and to the south, it is encircled by deserts and wildernesses. I had subsequently the satisfaction to find that this fence of rocks had not failed to fix the attention of the ancients. An old author, quoted by Suidas, says, that “rocks, to which the name _Harmata_,[198] was given, were strewed along the shore by Hercules to defend it from the approach of wild beasts.” The beasts are ships, to which the names of animals were given--from the figure-heads this fertile source of mythological personation has given us Pegasus, the Ram of Phryxus, the Bull of Europa. December 1st. We are still off our port ranging up and down, and unable to enter, although we have the most beautiful weather and the calmest sea! We cannot enter without a leading wind, that is, from the west, and if it blows from the west, we must run one hundred and fifty miles for shelter. A Portuguese on board, familiar with the coast, calls the ports of Barbary “excommunicated.” Last year a schooner was detained seven months before it could get away, and then had to sail with only half its cargo. [Illustration] We have viewed at our leisure the city of Salee and Rabat, and their environs. It is a strange place and country. The land is a series of long, gentle, bare, sweeping drives, at the edge cut out into cliffs and cones as if with a pastry cutter. About three miles north of Salee we descried, through the mists of spray, a magnificent palace. It changed to a gaunt ruin. A little further on there is a _kubbe_, or saint’s tomb, surmounted by a dome, like the tombs of Judæa and India. Next comes the point of Salee, and over it flutters the red flag of the “Rovers.” Gardens surround the town, and a few palm trees are seen among them. Between Salee and Rabat the river enters the sea over the bar. Rabat is imposing with its fortresses. The great tower stands on elevated ground at the bottom of the harbour. Rabat was built at the close of the twelfth century to facilitate--though the Moors were in possession of Ceuta and all the northern coast--the best expedition then directed against Spain. Across this bar was launched a large part of those hordes which followed Jacob Almanzor, and of that expedition under his successor, of half a million of men, which have immortalised the Navas de Tolosa.