Don't be so hasty to apologize. Nearby Malabata is Ksar Es Segghir, "a
charming small fishing port with a beautiful beach and ruins of a 15
century Portuguese fortress dating..." The rest of the sentence is
lost in cyberspace.
From Wikipedia: Finding Portuguese holdings in Morocco expensive to
maintain, King John III of Portugal decided to abandon it in 1533,
although the final evacuation of Ksar es-Seghir would be delayed until
1549. It was recovered by Morocco thereafter, but the departing
Portuguese had taken the trouble to evacuate the population, dismantle
much of the fortifications and town, and dump debris and sand into the
harbor, diminishing its immediate usefulness. In 1609, Ksar es-Seghir
became a destination for Moriscos expelled from Spain.
I scanned through the Daily Alta California letters and found no
mention of Malabat. I'm still curious where Twain first heard of
Mehemet Ali Ben Sancom and the frowning fortress of Malabat. Perhaps
there were stories about a one-manned garrison at the fortress at one
time.
On Fri, 2016-10-14 at 16:33 -0700, Leslie MYRICK wrote:
> Apologies to all. I retract my response. It was only a guess, after
> all.
> Leslie
>
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 12:44 PM, Scott Holmes <
> [log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > I have been unable to identify just what Twain is referring to in
> > this
> > passage from The Innocents Abroad. He describes passing under the
> > frowning fortress with a garrison of one. He calls this fortress
> > Malabat. I can find no reference to such a fortress in my Google
> > searches (even duckduckgo). The closest I can find is the Moorish
> > Castle at Gibraltar but the dates are wrong for a match. It also
> > does
> > not seem to lie on a route between Gibraltar and Tangier. Help
> > with
> > identifying just what fortress he was referring to would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> > --
> > There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are
> > dreamt of
> > in your philosophy.
> > http://bscottholmes.com
> >
--
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of
in your philosophy.
http://bscottholmes.com
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