allah_, the Governor of Fez, of the tribe of Benimecius, usurped
the crown of his master. Of his successors, the only prince who took
part in the Mahometan wars in Spain was _Abul Hassen_, who conquered
Gibraltar, and built the fort which still retains the name of the
_Moorish Castle_. He was dethroned and assassinated by his son, _Abul
Hassen_, a ferocious and ambitious tyrant, who left a son, named
_Abu-Said_, of a very depraved character, in whose reign Ceuta, after
a long siege, was taken by Don John, King of Portugal.

These usurpers were completely extirpated by the house of Merini,
which family in its turn was overcome by _Muley Mahomet_, a Xeriffe of
the same tribe, who seized the reins of government. His successors did
not long enjoy the fruit of their usurpation, but were most dreadfully
disturbed by a series of revolutions and murders, fomented and
perpetrated by the mountaineers, a resolute, ferocious, and restless
people, who, after raising the various parts of the country in arms
one against the other, and subjecting them to all the calamities of
civil war, cruelly butchered _Muley Achmet_, the last of the sons of
_Muley Sidan_ and proclaimed their chief, _Crom-el-Hadgy_, a
bloodthirsty ruffian, of low birth, and eminent in cruelties, in his
stead. This tyrant, to secure his new acquisition, inhumanly massacred
all the male descendants of the Xeriffes. He soon became the object of
universal detestation, and was poignarded by his Sultana on the day of
marriage. She was of the family of the Xeriffes, and consented to
marry him, only that she might have a better opportunity of
sacrificing him to her revenge, for the murder of her family.

After the tragical end of the descendants of the Xeriffes, these
countries, but more especially the province of Tafilet, experienced
all the horrors of famine and pestilence, for several years. The
people of Tafilet considered it as a judgment from their Prophet for
their injustice; and, to appease him, they made a pilgrimage to Mecca,
and easily prevailed on a Xeriffe, a descendant of Mahomet, named
_Muley Aly_, who resided in a town near Medina, to accompany them back
to this country. In the mean time, the seasons having become more
genial, the harvests were so abundant, that this credulous and
superstitious people attributed the change entirely to the arrival of
the pious Xeriffe. He was unanimously proclaimed King of Tafilet, by
the name of _Muley Xeriffe_; and as such