MOG A DORE, or Mocono a, a maritime town of the empire of Morocco, is situated in 29° 50' of north lati tude, and 9° 36' of west longitude, about 48 miles south of the river Tensift. It was founded in the year 1760 by the Emperor Mohammed-ben-Abdallah-ben-lsmael, and received its name from a sanctuary in the vicinity called Seedi Mogodol. But by the Moors it is called Suerah, or more properly Saweera, a name conferred upon it by the Emperor in allusion to the beauty of its appearance, and particularly the regularity of its con struction. It is built upon a low, flat, sandy tract, and in spring tides is almost surrounded by the sea, but is defended from the encroachment of the ocean by a line of rocks, which extend from the northern to the south ern gate. The harbour, or bay, is formed by a curve in the land, and a small island, about a quarter of a mile from the shore, but is rather shallow, and daily becom ing more so, by the accumulation of the sand, so that ships of war, or of great burden, must lie at anchor above a mile and a half west of the Long Battery on the west of the town towards the sea. At the entrance of the road is a circular battery, and, within the harbour, at the landing place, are two long batteries mounted with handsome brass eighteen-pounders. On the land side also, to the eastward of the town, is a battery of considerable force, fully sufficient to keep the Arabs at a distance ; and were the other forts well mounted and manned, it is supposed that six or seven large frigates would be required to reduce the place. There is a very spacious cistern under the battery at the Water port gate, which is filled with rain-water from the ad joining terraces, which is never used except in cases of emergency ; and as the water for the use of the town is brought from the river, this supply might be rendered inaccessible in the event of an attack. There are two towns, or rather a citadel and an outer town, both of which are walled in and protected by cannon. The cita del contains the custom-house, the treasury, the resi dence of the alkaid, the houses of the foreign merchants, and those of some of the civil officers ; and as the houses are all of stone, and of a white colour, the appearance of the town at a distance is extremely beautiful ; but the streets (which cross each other at right angles) are very narrow, and the houses have few windows towards them, so that the interior of the place has a sombre look. The houses of the foreign merchants are very spacious, hav ing eight or twelve rooms on a floor, all opening into a gallery, which goes round the whole inside, forming an area in the centre which is appropriated to the transact ing of business and the warehouing of goods. The roofs are flat, and beat down with a composition of lime and small stones, which forms a very durable covering, and serves as a walk for the family.
The emperor who founded the town was very desir ous to render it a flourishing commercial port. To im press his wishes on the minds of the inhabitants, he commanded his principal officers to bring mortar and stones, and with his own hands be began to build a wall, which is still to be seen on the rocks to the westward of the town. In order also to encdarage the merchants to
erect substantial houses, he not only presented them with ground, but allowed them to ship produce free of duty, as a remuneration for their expenses.
The Arabs, however, have so great a repugnance to quit their tents, and such a cositempt for the restraints of a town residence, that he was obliged to draft a cer tain number of persons from the Arab or Bezebber tribes, as well as from some of the towns, and to com pel them to settle in his new city. The population now amounts to about 10.000, and it is the only part of \Vest Barbary which maintains a regular commercial inter course with Europe. It differs from every other port along that coast in this respect, that the inhabitants have no other resource or occupation than commerce, and by it every individual is directly or indirectly sup ported. The town is in a manner insulated by sand hills, which separate it from the cultivated country, and which are so continually drifting by the incessant high winds of summer, that scarcely any kind of esculent plants can be raised for the supply of the inhabitants. The fruits and vegetables are therefore brought from gardens between four and twelve miles distant ; and the cattle and poultry from the other side of the sand hills. The foreign merchants of Mogadore supply the various cities and markets of the empire with European goods, receiving in return the produce of the country for exportation ; and formerly used to give to the na tives credit to a considerable extent. But of late years the Moorish government has greatly abridged their power of enforcing payment, so that credit is almost annihilated, and transformed into barter, which has curtailed the trade, and confined it among fewer hands. The principal imports are Yorkshire and \Vest country cloths of vari ous colours, superfine cloths, druggets, linens, cambrics, muslins, Indian blue linens, striped India silk, velvets, damask, and raw silk, alum, copperas, sugar, iron, hard ware, gums, spices, tea, pewter, tin bars and plates, white and red lead, copper in sheets, thread, mirrors, earthen ware, glass, brass pans and copper teakettles, Dutch knives, paper, cotton, coral and amber beads, wire, cochineal, iron nails, deals, dollars ; which, with several other articles, amounted in 1804 to the value of 151,450/. The principal exports are almonds, walnuts, gums, wax, hides, olive oil, wool, ostrich-feathers, elephant's teeth, dates, raisins, anise-secds, tallow, &c. which amounted in the same year, after paying freight and duties, to 127,6791. The police of the town is very strict, and there is neither housc-breaking nor rioting in the place. The governor of the city frequently goes the rounds in person, and looks the watchmen in the face, who lie on their sides with their ear to the ground, that they may the better hear any noise, and who would be in danger of capital punishment, if found asleep on their post. See Jackson's Account of Morocco ; Chenier's Present