The lower town of Fez was built by Edris the Second, about the end of the eighth century, and is taken notice of by Pliny under the name of Volubilis.  According to that author, and others, this city ranked amongst the principal inland towns of Mauritania, and was a Roman colony.  It is a place of considerable trade; the inhabitants are mostly freed men, engaged in commerce, and reputed to be very opulent and industrious; they have purchased a charter, by which they ensure a kind of independence, and are totally unmolested in their traffic; in short, there are great privileges attached to this town, which are not to be met with in any other part of Barbary.  The lower town is almost entirely surrounded by hills, which are highly cultivated, and abound with vineyards, and gardens producing most exquisite fruits.

Upper Fez is situated on one of the highest of the hills which almost encircle the lower town, and contains the imperial palace and seraglio, several old palaces occupied by the sons of the Emperor, and the habitations of the principal officers in the household.  Contiguous to these, is the inclosed town belonging solely to the Jews, who are about thirty thousand in number, having one hundred and fifty synagogues.  On that part of the wall of the Jewish town which overlooks Lower Fez, are placed several heavy pieces of ordnance, which, in case of an insurrection in the latter, would very soon demolish it:  as the lower town is by much the most populous and extensive, this precaution may not be unnecessary.  The Jewish town is commanded by an Alcaid, who cannot however shield its unfortunate inhabitants from oppression and insults.  These people are obliged to walk barefooted through the Moorish streets; and they suffer the greatest outrages without a murmur, nay, some of them have been actually murdered in the act of selling their goods to the Moors.  No Christian is allowed to appear publicly in the streets of Fez, without a special permission from the Emperor, and a military escort.

These towns are supplied with water in a most singular manner from a river, called Rasalema, which takes its source in a valley near the road to Mequinez.  It issues from a rock, about eight or ten feet above the ground, in a stream, that, from the form of the valley through which it runs, appears a continued waterfall.  It is conveyed into the Emperor’s garden by means of a large wheel, about twenty-five feet in diameter, round which, at regular distances, are small buckets, which, as the wheel goes round, are alternately filled, and emptied into a reservoir at the top of the wall of the garden.  From the reservoir the water is also conveyed to the upper and lower towns by aqueducts.