Fez
a city of Morocco, capital of the province, as it formerly was of the kingdom of the same name, and residence of a kaid or governor. It is singularly and beautifully situated in a funnel-shaped valley, open only to the N. and N. E., the sloping sides of which are covered with fields, gardens, orchards, and orange groves, 95 miles from the Atlantic, 225 N. E. of Morocco, and 80 miles S. E. of Tangier. Fez contains about 100 mosques, the chief of which, called El Carubin, is a fine structure, and possesses a covered place for women who may choose to participate in public prayers-a circumstance unique in Mohammedan places of worship. Public baths are numerous and good. Twice a year caravans go from Fez across the desert to Timbuktu. This city has always been considered one of the chief seats of Moslem learning. Old Fez was founded in 793 by Edris II., a descendant of Mohammed, and continued the capital of an independent kingdom till 1548, 1548 when it was, together with its territory, conquered, and annexed to Morocco. Fez has always been held so sacred by the Arabs and others, that when the pilgrimages to Mecca were interrupted in the 10th century, the Western Moslems journeyed to this city, as the Eastern did to Mecca; and even now none but the Faithful can enter Fez without express permission from the emperor. Pop. estimated at 100,000, of which about three-fourths are Moors and Arabs, and the remainder Berbers and other cognate tribes, Jews, and Negroes.
FEZZAN (ancient Phasania Regio, and the country of the Garamantes), a country of central Africa, immediately S. of Tripoli, to which pashalic it is tributary, Its true boundaries are ill-defined, and its area is uncertain. Fezzan is, as far as has been ascertained, the largest oasis, or cultivable tract in the great African desert of Sahara, by which it is surrounded on three sides. A great portion of this region consists of an extensive valley, bounded by an irregular circle of mountains on all sides except the W., where it opens into the desert. No streams (properly so called), but water is plentifully found at a depth of from 10 to 12 feet below the surface of the soil. A few small lakes, incrusted with carbonate of soda, are dotted here and there. The ostrich and antelope are commonly met with, while to the ordinary domestic animals camels may be added. In summer the temthe other hand, the cold of winter is the natives. Some wheat is raised, but sufficiently severe to be acutely felt by perature is insupportably hot, and, on the second the silk of cocoons. Nearly the other hand, the cold of winter is sufficiently severe to be acutely felt by the natives. Some wheat is raised, but maize and barley form the staple grains.
Dates, figs, legumes, and pomegranates form an abundant source of food to the caravan traffic between Egypt and Barportance as being a depot for the great caravan traffic between Egypt and Barbary, and the countries to the E. and S. (1911-1912) was by the Treaty of zan after the Turkish-Italian War (1911-1912) was by the Treaty of Ouchy placed with Tripoli under the dominion of Italy. plorer; born in Jersey City Heights, in Union and at the National Academy of 1869. He was educated at Cooper 1869. He was Union and at the National Academy of Design in New York. After several years spent in various employments, incame war correspondent for the Brookcame war correspondent for the Brook- American War, in which he took part as a 1st lieutenant of the infantry. In 1901-1902 he was photographer for the from 1903 to 1905 commanded a second expedition sent out under the same auspices. He accompanied Colonel Theodore Roosevelt through the Brazilian wilderness in on the latter's trip 1913-1914, and made extensive explorations in that region. He served as captain in the machine-gun troop on the Mexican border in 1916-1917, and during the World War served as major in the National Army. He wrote "Fighting the Polar Ice" (1906).