2-791-338 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sidi Mohammed's tent, captured by the French, 1844. One of the 'trophies taken by the French army from the Moors,...the Tent of the eldest son of the Emperor [Muhammad IV of Morocco]. It was displayed in Paris: 'It required no less than forty mules to convey it from place to place. Above the first tent rises a second, and much larger one, which serves to shade the first from the rays of the sun. Both are surmounted by a large ball of gilt copper, which can be seen from a considerable distance. At the entrance of the tent, and on one side of it, are a number of arches, or rather niches, which served as shelter for the guards of the gate. The tent was surrounded at some distance by a kind of wall, also of white linen, which prevented anyone seeing or hearing from the outside what passed in the royal presence'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I.