querors
of the "barbarians."

The delicate tracery in hewn stone which adds so greatly to the beauty
of the Morocco and Tlemcen examples, is almost entirely lacking, while
the once tasteful horse-shoe windows are now pricked out in red and
yellow, with a hideous modern balcony of white stone before each. The
quasi-Moorish belfry is the most pardonable addition, but to crown
all is an exhibition of incongruity which has no excuse. The original
tile-faced turret of the Moors, with its gilded balls, has actually
been replaced by a structure of several storeys, the first of which
is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third Corinthian. Imagine this
crowning the comely severity of the solid Moorish structure without a
projecting ornament! But this is not all. Swinging in gaunt uneasiness
over the whole, stands a huge revolving statue, supposed to represent
Faith, holding out in one hand a shield which catches the wind, and
causes it to act as a weather-vane.

Such is the Giralda of the twentieth century, and the guide-books are
full of praises for the restorer, who doubtless deserves great credit
for his skill in repairing the tower after it had suffered severely
from lightning, but who might have done more towards restoring the
original design, at all events in the original portion. We read in
"Raod el Kartas" that the mosque was finished and the tower commenced
in 1197, during the reign of Mulai Yakub el Mansur, who commenced its
sisters at Marrakesh and Rabat in the same year. One architect is
recorded to have designed all three--indeed, they have little uncommon
in their design, and have been once almost alike. Some assert that
this man was a Christian, but there is nothing in the style of
building to favour such a supposition.

The plan is that of all the mosque towers of Morocco, and the only
tower of a mosque in actual use which I have ascended in that
country--one at Mogador--was just a miniature of this. It is,
therefore, in little else than point of size that these three are
remarkable. The similarity between these and the recently fallen tower
of St. Mark's at Venice is most striking, both in design and in the
method of ascent by an inclined plane; while around the Italian lakes
are to be seen others of less size, but strongly resembling these.

All three are square, and consist of six to eight storeys in the
centre, with thick walls and vaulted roof, surrounded by an inclined
plane from base to summit, at an an