MEQUINEZ, a city of Morocco, situated 514 metres above the sea, about 7o m. from the west coast and 36 m. W.S.W. of Fez, on a long spur in a plain bounded on the north by the massif of Jebel Zerhoun and on the south by the plateaux of mid-Atlas on the borders of the Wad Bou Fekrane. on the road to Rabat.
in 56' N., 5° 5o' W. The town wall, with its four-cornered towers, is pierced by nine gates. A lower wall of wider circuit protects the luxuriant gardens in the outskirts. Mequinez, at a distance, appears a city of palaces, but it possesses few buildings of any note except the palace and the mosque of Mulai Ismail, which serves as the royal burying-place. The palace, founded in 1634, was described in 1821 by John Windus in his Journey to Mequinez (London, 1825) as "about 4 m. in circumference, the whole building exceeding massy, and the walls in every part very thick; the outward one about a mile long and 25 ft. thick." The interior is composed of oblong courtyards surrounded by buildings and arcades. These buildings are more or less square, with pyramidal roofs ornamented outside with green glazed tiles, and inside with richly carved and painted woodwork in Mauresque style. The walls are tiled to a height of 4 or 5 ft., and above they are finished in plaster, whitewashed or carved into filigree work. The ancient stables are particularly fine. One may note also some beautiful gateways, especially Bab-Mansour-el-Euldj (18th century), on the square El-Hedim, Bab-el-Khamis, on the west of the Mellah. Outside the walls to the north-west is the tomb
of Sidi-Mohammed-ben-Aissa, patron of Meknes and of the religious brotherhood of the Aissaouas, so well known for its strange rites ; they gather in great numbers at Meknes at the time of the festival of the saint. The new town stretches to the east of the original one, in a very open situation, near the railway station, which links it with Fez, Tangiers and Casablanca. Meknes is a makhzen or imperial town, one of the residences of the sultan. On the account of its geographical position in the middle of vast, fertile plains at the exit from the mid-Atlas and Jebel Zarhoun, it seems marked out for a great future. The pop. (1931) is of which 36,466 are Muslim, 7,745 Jews and 11,793 Europeans. Meknes is named from the great Zenata tribe of the Miknassa. It was at first an Almohade citadel called Tagraret. Its great importance dates from the 17th century ; it was the favourite residence of Moulai-Ismail, who, during his long reign of 55 years, raised there the buildings which have given to Meknes the name of "Moroccan Versailles." Gen. Moinier entered it on June 8, 1911, and the surrounding region was afterwards pacified. See 0. Houdas, Monographie de Meknes, traduit de l'arabe (Paris, 1885) ; Ed. Arnaud, Monographie de la region de Meknes (Casablanca, 1917).