LETTER XIX.

Journey from Santa Cruz to Mogodor, when no Travellers ventured to pass, owing to civil War and Contention among the Kabyles.--Moorish Philanthropy in digging Wells for the Use of Travellers.--Travelled with a trusty Guide without Provisions, Tents, Baggage, or Incumbrances.--Nature of the Warfare in the Land. Bitter Effects of Revenge and Retaliation on the Happiness of Society.--Origin of these civil Wars between the Families and Kabyles.--Presented with Honey and Butter for Breakfast.--Patriarchal Manner of living among the Shelluhs compared to that of Abraham.--Aromatic Honey.--Ceremony at Meals, and Mode of eating.--Travelled all Night, and slept in the open Air;--Method of avoiding the Night-dew, as practised by the Natives.--Arrival at Mogodor.

TO THE SAME.

Santa Cruz, April 7, 1795.

The province of Haha was in arms; caffilahs, and travellers could not pass; but it was expedient that I should go to Mogodor. Men of property in this country, influenced by a philanthropic spirit, often expend large sums in digging wells in districts, through which caffilahs pass, on their road from one country to another. I knew one of these philanthropists who was at Santa Cruz, and who had recently benefited the province of Haha, by having dug a well 151 in the Kabyl of Benitamer, a mountainous district in Haha; I sent for him, and as he was under obligations to me for various services I had rendered to him and his family, he consented to accompany me to Mogodor, through the disturbed province of Haha; and he assured me, that his influence throughout that province was such, that, by travelling quick, and without any baggage, tents, or incumbrances, he did not doubt of conducting me safe to Mogodor. I agreed to go with him, without servants, tents, or bedding, being determined to reconcile myself, under present circumstances, to the accommodation the country might afford. We started from Santa Cruz at sun-set; travelling through Tamaract, to the river Beni Tamur. We continued our journey till we arrived, at the dawn of day, at the foot of immense high mountains, called Idiaugomoron. Here my companion and guide L'Hage Muhamed bu Zurrawel, pointed out to me two castellated houses, about two miles distant from each other; the family-quarrels of these people had produced such animosity, that the inhabitants of neither house could with safety go out, for fear of being overpowered and killed by those of the other; so that wherever they went, they were well armed, but dared not go far. These two families were preparing for a siege, which often happens in this province. Thus the inhabitants of one house attack another, and sometimes exterminate or put to death the whole family, with their retainers. The province of Haha was thus in a state of the 152 most lamentable civil war, originating from these family-quarrels and domestic feuds. The heathen and anti-christian principle of revenge and retaliation, is here pursued with such bitter and obstinate animosity, that I have known instances of men relinquishing their vocation, to go into a far country to revenge the blood of a relation after a lapse of twenty years, and pursue the object of his revenge, for some murder committed in his family, perhaps forty or fifty years before.

To a British public, blessed with the benign influences of the Christian doctrine, it is perhaps necessary that I should elucidate this retaliative doctrine by an example:--Two men quarrel, and fight; they draw their kumäyas (curved daggers about 12 inches long), which all the people of Haha wear, as well as all the clans or kabyles of Shelluhs; and if one happens to give his antagonist a deadly wound, it becomes an indispensable duty in the next of kin to the person killed or murdered, (though perhaps it can hardly be termed a murder, as it is not committed, like an European duel, in cold blood, but in the moment of irritation, and at a period when the mind is under the influence of anger,) to seek his revenge by watching an opportunity to kill the survivor in the contest. If the former should die, his next of kin takes his place, and pursues his enemy, whose life is never safe; insomuch that, whole kabyles, when this deadly animosity has reached its acme, have been known to quit 153 their country and emigrate into the Sahara; for when the second death has been inflicted, it then becomes the incumbent duty of the next of kin of the deceased to seek his revenge: they call this justifying blood. This horrible custom has the most lamentable influence on the happiness of human life; for there will sometimes be several individuals seeking the life of one man, till this principle, pervading all the ramifications of relationship and consanguinity, produces family-broils, hostility, and murder, ad infinitum!! We stopped at a friend of L'Hage Muhamed, who presented us with honey and butter, thin shavings of the latter being let to fall into a bowl of honey for breakfast. This bowl was served up with flat cakes kneaded without leaven, and baked on hot stones; these are converted from corn into food in less than half an hour; they are in shape similar to our crumpets or pancakes. We were pressed by this Shelluh to stay and dine with him, which being agreed to, he sent a shepherd to his flock to kill a fat young kid, which was roasted with a wooden spit, before the vital heat had subsided, which was very tender, and of an exquisite flavour. The bread or cakes above described appear to be similar to what the women kneaded for the guests in the patriarchal ages: indeed, the customs of these people, as well as those of the Arabs, is precisely the same as they were in the patriarchal ages, and which are delineated in the 18th chapter of Genesis, 1st to the 8th verse. 154 The honey of this province is very fine: it has an aromatic flavour, derived from the wild thyme and other aromatic herbs on which the bees feed. Among these people every meal is preceded with a washing of their hands with water, which is brought round for the purpose in a brass pan; each guest dips his right hand in the pan, and a napkin is presented to wipe them; they then break the bread, and, after saying grace, which is universally this,--bismillah, i.e. "in the name of God," each guest takes a bit of bread, dips it in the honey and butter, and eats it. It is reckoned uncourteous or vulgar to bite the bread; therefore the piece broken off is sufficient for a mouthful, so that there is nothing that should offend a delicate appetite in this antique mode of eating. We remained several hours with our hospitable Shelluh friend; and we departed, after taking a little sleep, at four o'clock in the afternoon. Travelling all night, we arrived, at the dawn of day, at a large house in Idaugourd; the Shelluh to whom it belonged brought us carpets, and we slept under the wall of his house till the sun arose. The people of this country prefer sleeping in the open air to a room, and they have an excellent mode of securing themselves from the heavy dews of the night, by covering their heads and faces with a thin woollen hayk or garment, which they throw over their heads and faces. When I have had the Arabs of Sahara (who have conducted the caffilahs from Timbuctoo) at my house at Santa Cruz, 155 I gave them a long narrow room, 48 feet long, which was called (beet assuda) the apartment of Sudan, to sleep in; but they invariably came out at night, and placed their carpets and mats, as beds, outside of the room, and slept under the balustrade, in preference to the confinement, as they called it, of a room.

We rose at sun-rise, passed through the picturesque district of Idaugourd and the Woolja, and entered Mogodor at four o'clock, P.M. 156

AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND DECREASE OF THE PLAGUE That ravaged Barbary in 1799; FAITHFULLY EXTRACTED FROM LETTERS WRITTEN BY THE HOUSE OF JAMES JACKSON AND CO., OR BY JAMES G. JACKSON, MERCHANTS AT MOGODOR, TO THEIR CORRESPONDENTS IN EUROPE, DURING THE EPIDEMY.

* * * * *

Fragments respecting the Plague.

When the Emperor's army proceeded from Fas to Marocco in the summer of 1799, a detachment of which passed by Mogodor, consisting of 20,000 horse and 10,000 foot, it had the plague with it; so that, wherever it passed, the plague uniformly appeared three days after its arrival at the respective douars near which it encamped; those who died were buried in the tents, and the people of the provinces knew little about it.

A large akkaba, consisting of upwards of 1700 camels, 157 arrived 23d August, 1799, at Akka from Timbuctoo, laden with gum-sudan, ostrich-feathers, and gold dust, which had brought also many slaves; this akkaba had deposited its merchandize at Akka, till the plague should disappear and the country become healthy; as the people of that territory, unlike Muhamedans in general, will hold no communication with the infected, nor will they admit any one from these parts.

Mogodor, April 31, 1799.

A violent fever now rages at Fas: some assert it to be the plague, but that is Moorish report, and little to be depended on; the European consuls at Tangier, and the Spanish ambassador, who, having terminated his embassy, has lately left Mequinas, mention it as an epidemical disorder.

May 20. The small-pox rages violently throughout this country, and is of a most virulent kind: its origin is ascribed to the famine that has of late pervaded this country, and which was produced by the incredible devastation of the devouring locusts; the dregs of olives, after the oil had been extracted, has been the only food that could be procured by many thousands.

Mogodor, June 14, 1799.

Various reports reach us daily from the city of Marocco, respecting the epidemy that prevails there, some say 200 die, some 158 say 100, others limit the daily mortality to 50, in a population, according to the imperial register, of 270,000.

When any light rain falls, as is the case at Marocco at this season of the year, the mortality increases. Mr. Francisco Chiappe, an Italian merchant, is just arrived from Marocco, and is performing quarantine, by his own desire, at the Emperor's garden. This gentleman reports, that the greater portion of the people die of fear, from hunger, or bad food, or from the small-pox, which latter has raged at Marocco the last month or two; but he had not been able to ascertain, so various were the reports, whether it was the plague or not. The emperor's army, a division of which passed through this country, and encamped at the river, about two miles south of this port, had the distemper with it. We have been assured, that the soldiers who died, were immediately buried within the tents, so that, by this stratagem, the mortality was not perceived by the public; it was apprehended that, if the mortality were known, the kabyls, through which the army passed from Mequinas to Marocco, would not have supplied the troops with provision. This detachment consisted of 20,000 horse and 10,000 foot. No disorder has yet appeared here, nor in the adjacent provinces of Shedma and Haha.

July 13. The epidemy in the interior provinces has greatly augmented, insomuch, that the demand for linen to bury the dead rapidly increases, and the stock is almost exhausted. This article has risen to an unprecedented price. All the relatives of L'Hage Abdallah have fallen victims to the epidemy. This gentleman is consequently in possession of very considerable property; and (if he be not also carried off) there will be no fear of our recovering the debt he owes you.

We cannot ascertain if the disorder prevails in the outer town, and in the Jews' quarter, or not; it is certain, however, that eight or ten die daily of the small-pox, and as many more of fevers and other disorders, as report proclaims.

July 25. We are so much engaged in making arrangements against the epidemy, which is now confidently reported to us to be the plague, of a most deadly species, that we have only time to refer you to the captain of the Aurora, to whom we have communicated every 160 particular, and who is extremely anxious to be off for England. The deaths in this town, which contained a population of 10,000, according to the imperial register, are from forty to fifty each day.

Aug. 1. As the plague now rages violently here, no one thinks of business or the affairs of this world; but each individual anticipates that he will be next called away. I send the inclosed, to be forwarded to Mr. Andrea de Christo, at Amsterdam, to announce to him the sudden death of his partner, Mr. J. Pacifico, who is lately dead of the plague. I paid him a visit a few hours before his death; I met there Don Pedro de Victoria, who was smoking a segar; he offered me one, and urged me to smoke it. I believe that the smoke of tobacco is anti-pestilential; this, added to the precaution of avoiding contact, and inhalation of the breath of the person infected, appears to be quite sufficient to secure a person from infection.

Aug. 1. (Translation of a letter to Mr. Andrea de Christi, merchant at Amsterdam.) We are sorry that the subject of this letter is so melancholy. All our domestics have left us; the plague rages so violently here, that the daily mortality is from sixty to seventy, among which we are sorry to announce the death of your partner, Mr. J. Pacifico, who died two days since.

August 23. The best gum is selling at Akka for six dollars a quintal: they will not bring it here, fearing the infection. A 161 large Brazil ship has been wrecked off Cape Noon, her cargo, consisting for the most part of silks and linens, is estimated at half a million of dollars. The Arabs of Sahara convert the most beautiful lace into bridles for their horses, by twisting it; and superior silk stockings are selling at Wedinoon at a dollar per dozen pair. The plague is rapidly diminishing from 100 deaths to 20 or 30 per day. Meeman Corcoes is dead, as well as most of the principal tradesmen of Marocco and Fas; whole families have been swept off, and there is none left to inherit their property. Immense droves of horses, mules, and cattle of every description stray in the plains without owners.

September 5. The plague continues to decrease; and in another month we expect to be quite free from it. Signor Conton died this morning of the epidemy; yesterday afternoon he was apparently quite well, and paid me a visit. He wished me to shake hands with him, which I declined, alleging as an excuse, that I would dispense with that custom till the plague should pass over. He drank a glass of wine, and appeared cheerful and in good health. I have had fixed in my dining room, a table that extends from one end to the other. I walk or sit on one side of the table, my visitors on the other. I am only cautious to avoid personal contact. All the houses of the other merchants are closely barricaded or bolted. A fumigating pot 162 of gum sandrac stands at the entrance of my house, continually burning, which diffuses an agreeable perfume, but is not, as I apprehend, an antidote to the epidemy.

October 1. We have to apprise you of the decease of L'Hage Abdallah El Hareishy, most of whose relations are dead. His brother is the only one of the family besides himself that remains: he has inherited considerable property, and thence will be enabled to pay your bill on him in our favour.

October 29. The plague appears to have ceased in this town. All the merchants have opened their houses; but the disorder continues in the provinces, from whence there is little or no communication with the town. The kabyls seem to be wholly engaged in burying their dead, in arranging the affairs of their respective families, in dividing the property inherited by them, and in administering consolation to the sick.

Nov. 11. The plague having committed incalculable ravages throughout this country, had put a stop to all commerce, which now begins to revive, in proportion as that calamity subsides. Linens are selling to great advantage, a cargo would now render 60 per cent. profit, clear of all charges.

Nov. 29. The deadly epidemy that has lately visited us, and which 163 at one period carried off above 100 each day, has now confined its daily mortality to two or three; some days none. When, however, the Arabs of Shedma, and the Shelluhs of Haha come to town, and bring the clothes of their deceased relations for sale, the epidemy increases to three, four, and five a day; then, in three or four days, it declines again to its former number, one, two, or three. We have reason to expect, that, before the vessels which we expect from London shall arrive, the plague will have subsided entirely.

Mogodor, Dec. 12. 1799. The plague or mortality of this town is now reduced to three or four weekly.

OBSERVATION.

After the plague had subsided, a murrain attacked the cattle, and great numbers of all kinds died; so that they became reduced in the same proportion as the race of man had been reduced before.

Letter from His Excellency James M. Matra to Mr. Jackson.

Gibraltar, 28th Oct. 1799.

Dear Jackson;

Within a few days of each other, I received your packets of the 164 21st of September, and 8th instant. Their inclosures are of course taken care of. Your letter about Soke Assa was received, and sent home to government ages ago.

I never could understand the drift of the people either at Tangier or Mogodor, in asserting that my report of the plague was political. God knows, that our politics in Barbary are never remarkable for refinement: they are, if any thing, rather too much in the John Bull style; and the finesse they gave me such credit for, was absolutely beyond my comprehension, as I never could discover what advantage a genuine well-established plague in Barbary could be to our country. Of its existence I had not the shadow of doubt, for more than eight months before it was talked of; and when Doctor Bell was going that way, I begged of him to be particular in his enquiries, which he, as usual, neglected. When John Salmon was up, he was very particular, and I of course was laughed at. Here I saw politics, and told all the gentlemen, that when Salmon arrived at Tariffa, then, and not till then, we should have the plague in Barbary; and just so it turned out.

Ever truly thine,

J. MATRA.

From various circumstances and appearances, and from the character of the epidemical distemper which raged lately in the south of Spain, there is every reason to suppose, it was similar to that distemper or plague which depopulated West Barbary; for, whether we call it by the more reconcileable appellation of the epidemy, or yellow fever, it was undoubtedly a plague, and a most destructive one; for wherever it prevailed, it invariably carried off, in a few months, one-half, or one-third, of the population.

It does not appear how the plague originated in Fas in the year 1799. Some persons, who were there at the time it broke out, have confidently ascribed it to infected merchandise imported into that place from the East; whilst others, of equal veracity and judgment, have not scrupled to ascribe it to the locusts which had infested West Barbary during the seven preceding years, the destruction of which was followed by the (jedrie) small-pox, 167 which pervaded the country, and was generally fatal. The jedrie is supposed to be the forerunner of this species of epidemy, as appears by an ancient Arabic manuscript, which gives an account of the same disorder having carried off two-thirds of the inhabitants of West Barbary about four centuries since. But however this destructive epidemy originated, its leading features were novel, and its consequences more dreadful than the common plague of Turkey, or that of Syria, or Egypt. Let every one freely declare his own sentiments about it; let him assign any credible account of its rise, or the causes that introduced so terrible a scene. I shall relate only what its symptoms were, what it actually was, and how it terminated, having been an eye-witness of its dreadful effects, and having seen and visited many who were afflicted, and who were dying with it.

In the month of April, 1799, a dreadful plague, of a most destructive nature, manifested itself in the city of Old Fas, which soon after communicated itself to the new city. This unparalleled calamity, carried off one or two the first day, three or four the second day, six or eight the third day, and increasing progressively, until the mortality amounted to two in the hundred of the aggregate population, continuing with unabating violence, ten, fifteen, or twenty days; being of longer duration in old than in new towns; then diminishing in a progressive proportion from one 168 thousand a day to nine hundred, then to eight hundred, and so on until it disappeared. Whatever recourse was had to medicine and to physicians was unavailing; so that such expedients were at length totally relinquished, and the people, overpowered by this terrible scourge, lost all hopes of surviving it.

Whilst it raged in the town of Mogodor, a small village, Diabet, situated about two miles south-east of that place, remained uninfected, although the communication was open between them: on the thirty-fourth day, however, after its first appearance at Mogodor, this village was discovered to be infected, and the disorder raged with great violence, making dreadful havock among the human species for twenty-one days, carrying off, during that period, one hundred persons out of one hundred and thirty-three, the original population of the village, before the plague visited it; none died after this, and those who were infected, recovered in the course of a month or two, some losing an eye, or the use of a leg or an arm.

Many similar circumstances might be here adduced relative to the numerous and populous villages dispersed through the extensive Shelluh province of Haha, all which shared a similar or a worse fate. Travelling through this province shortly after the plague had exhausted itself, I saw many uninhabited ruins, which I had before witnessed as flourishing villages; on making enquiry concerning the 169 population of these dismal remains, I was informed that in one village, which contained six hundred inhabitants, four persons only had escaped the ravage. Other villages, which had contained four or five hundred, had only seven or eight survivors left to relate the calamities they had suffered. Families which had retired to the country to avoid the infection, on returning to town, when all infection had apparently ceased, were generally attacked, and died; a singular instance of this kind happened at Mogodor, where, after the mortality had subsided, a corps of troops arrived from the city of Terodant, in the province of Suse, where the plague had been raging, and had subsided; these troops, after remaining three days at Mogodor, were attacked with the disease, and it raged exclusively among them for about a month, during which it carried off two-thirds of their original number, one hundred men; during this interval the other inhabitants of the town were exempt from the disorder, though these troops were not confined to any particular quarter, many of them having had apartments in the houses of the inhabitants of the town.

The destruction of the human species in the province of Suse was considerably greater than elsewhere; Terodant, formerly the metropolis of a kingdom, but now that of Suse, lost, when the infection was at its acme, about eight hundred each day; the 170 ruined, but still extensive city of Marocco, lost one thousand each day; the populous cities of Old and New Fas diminished in population twelve or fifteen hundred each day, insomuch, that in these extensive cities, the mortality was so great, that the living having not time to bury the dead, the bodies were deposited or thrown altogether into large holes, which, when nearly full, were covered over with earth. All regulations in matters of sepulture before observed were now no longer regarded; things sacred and things prophane had now lost their distinction, and universal despair pervaded mankind. Young, healthy, and robust persons of full stamina, were, for the most part, attacked first, then women and children, and lastly, thin, sickly, emaciated, and old people.

After this violent and deadly calamity had subsided, we beheld a general alteration in the fortunes and circumstances of men; we saw persons who before the plague were common labourers, now in possession of thousands, and keeping horses without knowing how to ride them. Parties of this description were met wherever we went, 171 and the men of family called them in derision el wuratu, the inheritors. Provisions also became extremely cheap and abundant; the flocks and herds had been left in the fields, and there was now no one to own them; and the propensity to plunder, so notoriously attached to the character of the Arab, as well as to the Shelluh and Moor, was superseded by a conscientious regard to justice, originating from a continual apprehension of dissolution, and that the el khere, as the plague was now called, was a judgment of the Omnipotent on the disobedience of man, and that it behoved every individual to amend his conduct, as a preparation to his departure for paradise.

The expense of labour at the same time increased enormously, and never was equality in the human species more conspicuous than at this time; when corn was to be ground, or bread baked, both were performed in the houses of the affluent, and prepared by themselves, for the very few people whom the plague had spared, were insufficient to administer to the wants of the rich and independent, and they were accordingly compelled to work for themselves, performing personally the menial offices of their respective families. 172 [Footnote 133: At this time I received from Marocco a caravan of many camel-loads of bees-wax, in serrons containing 200 lbs. each; I sent for workmen to place them one upon another, and they demanded one dollar per serron for so moving them.]

The country being now depopulated, and much of the territory without owners, vast tribes of Arabs emigrated from their abodes in the interior of Sahara, and took possession of the country contiguous to the river Draha, as well as many districts in Suse; and, in short, settling themselves, and pitching their tents wherever they found a fertile country with little or no population.

The symptoms of this plague varied in different patients, the variety of age and constitution gave it a like variety of appearance and character. Those who enjoyed perfect health were suddenly seized with head-aches and inflammations; the tongue and throat became of a vivid red, the breath was drawn with difficulty, and was succeeded by sneezing and hoarseness; when once settled in the stomach, it excited vomitings of black bile, attended with excessive torture, weakness, hiccough, and convulsion. Some were seized with sudden shivering, or delirium, and had a sensation of such intense inward heat, that they threw off their clothes, and would have walked about naked in quest of water wherein to plunge themselves. Cold water was eagerly resorted to by the unwary and imprudent, and proved fatal to those who indulged in its momentary relief. Some had one, two, or more buboes, which formed themselves, 173 and became often as large as a walnut, in the course of a day; others had a similar number of carbuncles; others had both buboes and carbuncles, which generally appeared in the groin, under the arm, or near the breast. Those who were affected with a shivering, having no buboe, carbuncle, spots, or any other exterior disfiguration, were invariably carried off in less than twenty-four hours, and the body of the deceased became quickly putrified, so that it was indispensably necessary to bury it a few hours after dissolution. It is remarkable, that the birds of the air fled away from the abode of men, for none were to be seen during this 174 calamitous period; the hyænas, on the contrary, visited the cemeteries, and sought the dead bodies to devour them. I recommended Mr. Baldwin's invaluable remedy of olive oil, applied according to his directions; several Jews, and some Muselmin, were induced to try it, and I was afterwards visited by many, to whom I had recommended it, and had given them written directions in Arabic how to apply it: and I do not know any instance of its failing when persevered in, even after the infection had manifested itself.

I have no doubt but the epidemy which made its appearance at Cadiz, and all along the southern shores of Spain, immediately as the plague was subsiding in West Barbary, was the same disorder with the one above described, suffering, after its passage to a Christian country, some variation, originating from the different modes of living, and other circumstances; for nothing can be more opposite than the food, dress, customs, and manners of Muhamedans and Christians, notwithstanding the approximation of Spain to Marocco. We have been credibly informed, that it was communicated originally to Spain, by two infected persons, who went from Tangier to Estapona, a small village on the opposite shore; who, after eluding the vigilance of the guards, reached Cadiz. We have also been assured that it was communicated by some infected persons who 175 landed in Spain, from a vessel that had loaded produce at L'Araiche in West Barbary. Another account was, that a Spanish privateer, which had occasion to land its crew for the purpose of procuring water in some part of West Barbary, caught the infection from communicating with the natives, and afterwards proceeding to Cadiz, and spread it in that town and the adjacent country.

It should be observed, for the information of those who may be desirous of investigating the nature of this extraordinary distemper, that, from its character and its symptoms, approximating to the peculiar plague, which (according to the before mentioned Arabic record) ravaged and depopulated West Barbary four centuries since, the Arabs and Moors were of opinion it would subside after the first year, and not appear again the next, as the Egyptian plague does; and agreeably to this opinion, it did not re-appear the second year: neither did St. John's day, or that season, affect its virulence; but about that period there prevails along the coast of West Barbary, a trade-wind, which, beginning to blow in the month of May, continues throughout the months of June, July, and August, with little intermission. It was apprehended that the influence of this trade-wind, added to the superstitious opinion of the plague ceasing on St. John's day, would stop, or at least sensibly diminish the mortality; but no such thing happened: the wind did set in, as it invariably does, about St. John's day; the 176 disorder, however, increased at that period, rather than diminished. Some persons were of opinion, that the infection maintained its virulence till the last; that the decrease of mortality did not originate from a decrease of the miasma, but from a decrease of population, and a consequent want of subjects to prey upon; and this indeed is a plausible idea; but admitting it to be just, how are we to account for the almost invariable fatality of the disorder, when at its height, and the comparative innocence of it when on the decline? for then, the chance to those who had it, was, that they would recover and survive the malady.

The old men seemed to indulge in a superstitious tradition, that when this peculiar kind of epidemy attacks a country, it does not return or continue for three or more years, but disappears altogether, (after the first year,) and is followed the seventh year by contagious rheums and expectoration, the violence of which lasts from three to seven days, but is not fatal. Whether this opinion be in general founded in truth I cannot determine; but in the spring of the year 1806, which was the seventh year from the appearance of the plague at Fas in 1799, a species of influenza pervaded the whole country; the patient going to bed well, and, on rising in the morning, a thick phlegm was expectorated, accompanied by a distressing rheum, or cold in the head, with a cough, which quickly reduced those affected to extreme weakness, but was seldom fatal, continuing from three to seven days, with more or less violence, and then gradually disappearing. 177 During the plague at Mogodor, the European merchants shut themselves up in their respective houses, as is the practice in the Levant; I did not take this precaution, but occasionally rode out to take exercise on horseback. Riding one day out of the town, I met the Governor's brother, who asked me where I was going, when every other European was shut up? "To the garden," I answered.--"And are you not aware that the garden and the adjacent country is full of (Jinune) departed souls, who are busy in smiting with the plague every one they meet?" I could not help smiling, but told him, that I trusted to God only, who would not allow any of the Jinune to smite me unless it were his sovereign will, and that if it were, he could effect it without the agency of Jinune. On my return to town in the evening, the beach, from the town-gate to the sanctuary of Seedi, Mogodole was covered with biers. My daily observations convinced me that the epidemy was not caught by approach, unless that approach was accompanied by an inhaling of the breath, or by touching the infected person; I therefore had a separation made across the gallery, inside of my house, between the kitchen and dining parlour, of the width of three feet, which is sufficiently wide to prevent the inhaling the 178 breath of a person. From this partition or table of separation I took the dishes, and after dinner returned them to the same place, suffering none of the servants to come near me; and in the accounting-house, I had a partition made to prevent the too near approach of any person who might call on business; and this precaution I firmly believe to be all that is necessary, added to that of receiving money through vinegar, and taking care not to touch or smell infectious substances.

Fear had an extraordinary effect in disposing the body to receive the infection; and those who were subject thereto, invariably caught the malady, which was for the most part fatal. At the breaking out of the plague at Mogodor, there were two medical men, an Italian and a Frenchman, the latter, a man of science, a great botanist, and of an acute discrimination; they, however, did not remain, but took the first opportunity of leaving the place for Teneriffe, so that the few Europeans had no expectation of any medical assistance except that of the natives. Plaisters of gum ammoniac, and the juice of the leaves of the opuntia, or kermuse ensarrah, i.e. prickly pear, were universally applied to the carbuncles, as well as to the buboes, which quickly brought them to suppuration: many of the people of property took copious draughts of coffee and Peruvian bark. The Vinaigre de quatre voleurs, was 179 used by many, also camphor, smoking tobacco, or fumigations of gum Sandrac; straw was also burned by some, who were of opinion, that any thing which produced abundance of smoke, was sufficient to purify the air of pestilential effluvia.

During the existence of the plague, I had been in the chambers of men on their death-bed: I had had Europeans at my table, who were infected, as well as Moors, who actually had buboes on them; I took no other precaution than that of separation, carefully avoiding to touch the hand, or inhale the breath; and, notwithstanding what may have been said, I am decidedly of opinion that the plague, at least this peculiar species of it, is not produced by any infectious principle in the atmosphere, but caught solely by touching infected substances, or inhaling the breath of those who are diseased; and that it must not be confounded with the common plague of Egypt, or Constantinople, being a malady of a much more desperate and destructive kind. It has been said, by persons who have discussed the nature and character of the plague, that the cultivation of a country, the draining of the lands, and other agricultural improvements, tend to eradicate or diminish it; but, at the same time, we have seen countries depopulated where there was no morass, or stagnate water for many days' journey, nor even a tree to impede the current of air, or a town, nor any thing but encampments of Arabs, who procured water from wells of a great depth, and 180 inhabited plains so extensive and uniform, that they resemble the sea, and are so similar in appearance after, as well as before sun-rise, that if the eye could abstract itself from the spot immediately surrounding the spectator, it could not be ascertained whether it were sea or land.

I shall now subjoin a few cases for the further elucidation of this distemper, hoping that the medical reader will pardon any inaccuracy originating from my not being a professional man.

Case I.--One afternoon, I went into the kitchen, and saw the cook making the bread; he appeared in good health and spirits; I afterwards went into the adjoining parlour, and took up a book to read; in half an hour the same man came to the door of the room, with his eyes starting from his head, and his bed-clothes, &c. in his hands, saying, "open the gate for me, for I am (m'dorb) smitten." I was astonished at the sudden transition, and desired him to go out, and I would follow and shut the gate. The next morning he sent his wife out on an errand, and got out of bed, and came to the gate half-dressed, saying that he was quite recovered, and desired I would let him in. I did not, however, think it safe to admit him, but told him to go back to his house for a few days, until he should be able to ascertain that he was quite well; he accordingly returned to his apartments, but expired that evening, and before day-break his body was in such a state, that his feet 181 were actually putrified. His wife, by attending on him, caught the infection, having a carbuncle, and also buboes, and was confined two months before she recovered.

Case II.--L'Hage Hamed O Bryhim, the old governor of Mogodor, had twelve or more children, and four wives, who were all attacked, and died (except only one young wife); he attended them successively to the grave, and notwithstanding that he assisted in performing the religious ceremony of washing the body, he never himself caught the infection; he lived some years afterwards, and out of the whole household, consisting of wives, concubines, children, and slaves, he had but one person left, which was the before-mentioned young wife: this lady, however, had received the infection, and was confined some time before she recovered.

Case. III.--Hamed ben A---- was smitten with the plague, which he compared to the sensation of two musket balls fired at him, one in each thigh; a giddiness and delirium succeeded, and immediately afterwards a green vomiting, and he fell senseless to the ground; a short time afterwards, on the two places where he had felt as if shot, biles or buboes formed, and on suppurating, discharged a foetid black pus; a (jimmera) carbuncle on the joint of the arm near the elbow was full of thin ichor, contained in an elevated skin, surrounded by a burning red colour; after three months' confinement, being reduced to a skeleton, the disorder appeared to 182 have exhausted itself, and he began to recover his strength, which in another month was fully reestablished. It was an observation founded on daily experience, during the prevalence of this disorder, that those who were attacked with a nausea at the stomach, and a subsequent vomiting of green or yellow bile, recovered after suffering in various degrees, and that those who were affected with giddiness, or delirium, followed by a discharge or vomiting of black bile, invariably died after lingering one, two, or three days, their bodies being covered with small black spots similar to grains of gun-powder; in this state, however, they possessed their intellects, and spoke rationally till their dissolution.

When the constitution was not disposed, or had not vigour enough to throw the miasma to the surface in the form of biles, buboes, carbuncles, or blackish spots, the virulence is supposed to have operated inwardly, or on the vital parts, and the patient died in less than twenty-four hours, without any exterior disfiguration.

Case IV.--It was reported that the Sultan had the plague twice during the season, as many others had; so that the idea of its attacking like the small-pox, a person but once in his life, is refuted: the Sultan was cured by large doses of Peruvian bark frequently repeated, and it was said that he found such infinite benefit from it, that he advised his brothers never to travel without having a good supply. The Emperor, since the plague, always has by him a sufficient quantity of quill bark to supply his emergency. 183 Case V.--H.L. was smitten with the plague, which affected him by a pain similar to that of a long needle (as he expressed himself) repeatedly plunged into his groin. In an hour or two afterwards, a (jimmera) carbuncle appeared in the groin, which continued enlarging three days, at the expiration of which period he could neither support the pain, nor conceal his sensations; he laid himself down on a couch; an Arabian doctor, applied to the carbuncles the testicles of a ram cut in half, whilst the vital warmth was still in them; the carbuncle on the third day was encreased to the size of a small orange; the before-mentioned remedy was daily applied during thirty days, after which he resorted to cataplasms of the juice of the (opuntia) prickly pear-tree, (feshook) gum ammoniac, and (zite el aud) oil of olives, of each one-third; this was intended to promote suppuration, which was soon effected; there remained after the suppuration a large vacuity, which was daily filled with fine hemp dipped in honey; by means of this application the wound filled up, and the whole was well in thirty-nine days.

Case VI.--El H--t--e, a trading Jew of Mogodor, was sorely afflicted; he called upon me, and requested some remedy; I advised him to use oil of olives, and having Mr. Baldwin's mode of 184 administering it, I transcribed it in the Arabic language, and gave it to him; he followed the prescription, and assured me, about six weeks afterwards, that (with the blessing of God) he had preserved his life by that remedy only; he said, that after having been anointed with oil, his skin became harsh and dry like the scales of a fish, but that in half an hour more, a profuse perspiration came on, and continued for another half hour, after which he experienced relief: this he repeated forty days, when, he was quite recovered.

Case VII.--Moh--m'd ben A---- fell suddenly down in the street; he was conveyed home; three carbuncles and five buboes appeared soon after in his groin, under the joint of his knee, and arm-pits, and inside the elbow; he died in three hours after the attack.

Case VIII.--L.R. was suddenly smitten with this dreadful calamity, whilst looking over some Marocco leather; he fell instantaneously; afterwards, when he had recovered his senses, he described the sensation as that of the pricking of needles, at every part wherein the carbuncles afterwards appeared: he died the same day in defiance of medicine.

Case IX.--Mr. Pacifico, a merchant, was attacked, and felt a pricking pain down the inside of the thick part of the thigh, near the sinews; he was obliged to go to bed. I visited him the next day, and was going to approach him, but he exclaimed, "Do not come 185 near for although I know I have not the prevailing distemper, yet your friends, if you touch me, may persuade you otherwise, and that might alarm you; I shall, I hope, be well in a few days." I took the hint of Don Pedro de Victoria, a Spanish gentleman, who was in the room, who, offering me a sagar, I smoked it, and then departed; the next day the patient died. He was attended during his illness by the philanthropic Monsieur Soubremont, who did not stir from his bed-side till he expired; but after exposing himself in this manner, escaped the infection, which proceeded, as he thought, from his constantly having a pipe in his mouth.

Case X.--Two of the principal Jews of the town giving themselves up, and having no hope, were willing to employ the remainder of their lives in affording assistance to the dying and the dead, by washing the bodies and interring them; this business they performed during thirty or forty days, during all which time they were not attacked: when the plague had nearly subsided, and they began again to cherish hopes of surviving the calamity, they were both smitten, but after a few days' illness recovered, and are now living.

From this last case, as well as from many others similar, but too numerous here to recapitulate, it appears that the human constitution requires a certain miasma, to prepare it to receive the pestilential infection.

General Observation.--When the carbuncles or buboes appeared to 186 have a blackish rim round their base, the case of that patient was desperate, and invariably fatal. Sometimes the whole body was covered with black spots like partridge-shot; such patients always fell victims to the disorder, and those who felt the blow internally, showing no external disfiguration, seldom survived more than a few hours.

The plague appears to visit this country about once in every twenty years: the last visitation was in 1799 and 1800, being more fatal than any ever before known.

* * * * *

Observations respecting the Plague that prevailed last Year in West Barbary, and which was imported from Egypt; communicated by the Author to the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Literature, Science, and the Arts, edited at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, No, 15, published in October, 1819.

His Majesty's ship, which was lying in the port of Alexandria, when Colonel Fitzclarence passed through Egypt, from India, on his way to England, convoyed to Tangier a vessel which had on board two of the sons of Muley Soliman, emperor of Marocco; on their arrival at Tangier, the princes immediately landed and proceeded to their father at Fas; but it was discovered by the governor or alkaid of 187 Tangier, that during the passage some persons had died; and accordingly the alkaid would not suffer any of the passengers to land, except the princes, until he should have received orders from the Emperor how to act; he accordingly wrote to Fas, for the imperial orders, and in the mean time the princes arrived, and presented themselves to the emperor: the latter wrote to the alkaid, that as the princes had been suffered to land, it would be unjust to prohibit the other passengers from coming ashore also. He therefore ordered the alkaid to suffer all the passengers, together with their baggage, to be landed, and soon afterwards the plague appeared at Fas, and at Tangier. Thus the contagion which is now ravaging West Barbary was imported from Egypt. It does not appear that the mortality is, or has been, during its acme at Fas, any thing comparable to what it was during the plague that ravaged this country in 1799, and which carried off more than two-thirds of the population of the empire.

With regard to the remedy of olive oil applied internally, I should, myself, be disposed to doubt its efficacy unless M. Colaço, 189 the Portuguese consul at L'Araich, is competent to declare, from his own knowledge and experience, that this remedy has been administered effectually by him to persons having the plague, who did not also use the friction with oil. I say, till this can be ascertained, I think the remedy of oil applied externally, should not be forsaken; as it has been proved during the plague in Africa, in 1799, to be infallible, and therefore indispensable to people whose vocation may lead them to associate with, or to touch or bury the infected. For the rest, such persons as are not compelled to associate with the infected, may effectually avoid the contagion, however violent and deadly it may be, by avoiding contact. I am so perfectly convinced of this fact, from the experience and observation I have made during my residence at Mogodor, whilst the plague raged there in 1799, that I would not object to go to any country, although it were rotten with the plague, provided my going would benefit mankind, or serve any useful purpose; and I would use no fumigation, or any other remedy but what I actually used at Mogodor in 1799. I am so convinced from my own repeated and daily experience, that the most deadly plague is as easy to be avoided BY STRICTLY ADHERING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF AVOIDING PERSONAL CONTACT AND INHALATION, AND THE CONTACT OF INFECTIOUS SUBSTANCES, that I would ride or walk through the most 190 populous and deeply-infected city, as I have done before, without any other precaution than that of a segar in my mouth, when, by avoiding contact and inhalation, I should most assuredly be free from the danger of infection!!

When these precautions are strictly observed, I maintain, (in opposition to all the theoretical dogmas that have lately been propagated) that there is no more danger of infection with the plague, than there is of infection from any common cold or rheum.

191

JOURNEY FROM TANGIER TO RABAT THROUGH THE PLAINS OF SEBOO,

To accompany Dr. Bell, in Company with the Prince Muley Teib and an Army of Cavalry.

Officiated as Interpreter between the Prince and Dr. Bell.--Description of Food sent to us by the Prince.--The Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah, an incomparable fine and productive Country.--The Cavalry of the Amorites,--their unique Observations on Dr. Bell.--their mean Opinion of his Art, because he could not cure Death.--Passage of the River Seboo on Rafts of inflated Skins.--Spacious Tent of Goat's Hair erected for the Sheik, and appropriated to the Use of the Prince.--Description of the magnificent Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah and Seboo.--Arabian Royalty.--Prodigious Quantity of Corn grown in these Plains.--Matamores, what they are.--Mode of Reaping.--The Prince presents the Doctor with a Horse, and approves of his Medicines.--The Prince and the Doctor depart south-eastwardly, and the Author pursues his Journey to Rabat and Mogodor.

I happened to be at Tangier when the (shereef) prince Muley Teib was collecting an army to join that of the emperor, which was on the banks of the river Morbeya, (see the map of West Barbary, p. 55,) in Shawiya. Doctor Bell, who had then recently arrived from Gibraltar, to attend the prince, whose lungs were affected, was to 192 accompany his Royal Highness; and, as I had nothing to detain me in Tangier, and was going to Rabat, I engaged to accompany the doctor, and offered to officiate as interpreter between him and the prince till our arrival at Rabat; after which I should leave him, and proceed to Mogodor. The Doctor readily assented to my proposition, because it is considered more respectable in this country, where the Jews are reprobated and despised, to have for an interpreter a Christian; the prince also, when he heard that I had thus offered my services, expressed himself much gratified, and I received a very polite message from him. The next day we started from Tangier, in the morning at ten o'clock. The army halted east of Arzilla, in the plains: the prince sat down under the shade of a tree to dinner, Dr. Bell and myself under another tree, about 100 yards distant. The Prince sent us a capon stewed à-la-mauresque with saffron, the exquisite flavour of which proved that he had an excellent cook with him. We departed in half an hour; and the tents were pitched at sunset, in a campaign country, between Arzilla and L'Araich. The Ait-Amor or Amorites who formed a part of this army, a wild, uncontrolled race of Berebbers, saw the attention that was paid by the shereef to the doctor, and after dinner they were determined to see what sort of a fellow this doctor was, whom the shereef treated so familiarly. They galloped their high-mettled horses up to the doctor; and stopping short to examine him, made a 193 reflection on him and returned. The doctor observed the wild and tattered appearance of these excellent horsemen. There was nothing evil-minded in them; but their observations were remarkable. The Doctor wore powder, a custom unknown in this country: one party would say, "He has got lime in his head to kill the vermin;" another would observe that "He was old or grey-headed." The Doctor was fond of his bottle, and some said skurren bel akkaran, i.e. "The son of a cuckold is drunk." Others would bawl out, Wa Tebeeb washka't dowie elmoot, i.e. "O, doctor, canst thou cure death?" To which he replied, "No."--"Then," returned they, "thou art no doctor!" On the following morning at sun-rise we proceeded, and reached L'Araich at twelve o'clock; we did not enter the town, but dined in the plains, and proceeding afterwards out of the main road, we directed our course south-east, till we reached a most beautiful and very extensive plain, called M'sharrah Rummellah. This plain was covered with numerous and immense flocks of sheep and horned cattle, and is many times more extensive than Salisbury plain. We pitched our tents near a very extensive and populous douar of Arabs. We departed the next morning at sun-rise, and reached the plains of the river Seboo about two o'clock in the afternoon; which plains are a continuation of those of M'sharrah 194 Rummellah; the army were engaged the remaining part of the day and the whole night crossing the river Seboo, on rafts made of inflated cow-hides, covered with planks and straw. The river is here about twenty yards wide, but very deep and rapid; the Arabs had a long and spacious sheik's tent pitched for the reception of the prince, about forty feet long and fifteen wide, somewhat similar to the hull of a ship reversed, having the long side open to the sun. These tents are the palace of the sheik of the Arabs, and are erected on great occasions only, such as that of the emperor, or a prince passing through their territory. The plains of M'sharrah Rummellah are one hundred and fifty British miles in circumference, perfectly flat, without a stone, a tree, a hedge, or a ditch; with the majestic river Seboo passing through the centre of the plain. The soil of this territory, which, in the hands of Europeans, might be made a terrestrial paradise, is a rich, productive, decomposed vegetable earth, which extends, as we perceived from various chasms, to the depth of several feet from the surface. It produces incredible quantities of the finest wheat, of a hard grain, very large and long, clear as amber, and yielding a prodigious increase of flour, so that a saa of wheat produces a saa and a sixth of 195 flour. The prince, Muley Teeb, seated on an eminence in this spacious tent, resembled what we should imagine the patriarch Abraham to have been, entertaining his friends; or Saul upon his throne, with his javelin in his hand. He had twelve lanciers, six on each side of him in a row, standing with their lances erect, the Prince having one in his hand. It appears that this is the Arabian etiquette; and the Arabs appeared much gratified that the prince had personified their sheik, with all the paraphernalia of royalty. His Royal Highness whose mind seemed moved with the beauty of this country, sent for the Doctor and myself, and asked us if we had ever seen such a country before. We frankly confessed we had not. The prince smiled, and said, that the (sehell) plain we were on, although extremely populous, and full of douars, could grow seventeen times as much corn as the inhabitants could consume; that there was then corn enough in the matamores of this plain, to supply (El garb kamel) the whole of El garb, i.e. the country north of the river Morbeya.

Encamped in the centre of this plain, when the sun had set, and the twilight came on, we could have imagined ourselves in the midst of the ocean. Not a cloud was in the sky, nor a hill on the land, to intercept the uniformity of the horizon; the moon shone so bright, that we could read by its light, and the universal novelty of the scene resembled enchantment.

On this rich land they use no dung: they reap the corn about a foot from the ground, and burn the stubble. The produce is greater even than that of the new-dyke land, on the banks of the river Ems, in North Holland. The allotments of land are ascertained by a large stone, placed at each corner of the square, when the reapers reach these stones, they desist from proceeding or reaping the corn of other proprietors. We rose early in the morning, and found the air of this terrestrial paradise strongly perfumed with millions of odoriferous flowers, that were growing spontaneously throughout the plains. Walking with Dr. Bell through the Prince's camp, we saw a beautiful grey horse. The doctor admired it. I recommended him to ask the Prince for it, he was not acquainted with the customs of 197 this country, and ridiculed my observation. "If you wish to have that horse, Doctor," said I, "I will engage that the Prince will get it for you. I represented immediately to His Royal Highness, that the Doctor had taken a liking to the horse, and would wish to buy it. Not buy it," said the Prince; "he will receive it as a present from me. Tell him, he deserves seven horses for the benefit he has done me: all doctors that I have heretofore had have taken twenty-four hours to give me ease; he relieves me in one. Tell him so," said the prince, "and that he (massab ala genibuna) is in the number of my dearest friends. (e jeek elkhere attibib u asselem), Good be with you, doctor, and peace be with you." Thus ended the negociation for the horse. I found afterwards that it belonged to a sheik of the Arab province of Beni Hassen, who regretted parting with it, but the Prince gave him the value of it, and much courtesy withal. We struck our tents next morning at eleven o'clock, and, travelling southward, the Prince received an express from the Emperor to join his imperial army forthwith: accordingly the Prince and his doctor departed south-east, and I took leave of them, and pursued my journey to Rabat.

198

OF THE EXCAVATED RESIDENCES OF THE INHABITANTS OF ATLAS: THE ACEPHALI, HEL SHUAL, AND HEL ELKILLEB:

The Discovery of Africa not to be effected by the present System of solitary Travellers; but by a grand Plan, with a numerous Company; beginning with Commerce, as the natural Prelude to Discovery, the Fore-runner of Civilization, and a preliminary Step, indispensable to the Conversion of the native Negroes to Christianity.

The inhabitants of the snowy or upper regions of the Atlas live, during the months of November, December, January, February, and half of March, in caves or excavations in the mountains; the snow then disappears, and they begin to cultivate the earth.

I have repeatedly heard reports of the (Helel Killeb,) dog-faced race; of the (Hel Shual,) tailed race; and of the race 199 having one eye, and that in the breast. It is extremely difficult to ascertain the origin of these reports, which are so involved in metaphor that the signification is not intelligible to Europeans; their existence is not doubted, however, in Africa. Of the Hel El Killeb some ignorant people affirm that the Almighty transformed one of the tribes of the Jews into these people, and that these are their descendants; others report them to be a mongrel breed, between the human and ape species; their strength is said to be very great. The Africans assert with considerable confidence, which is corroborated, that the Hel Shual have a tail half a cubit long; that they inhabit a district in the Desert at an immense distance south-east of Marocco; that the Hel El Killeb 200 are in a similar direction; that the latter are diminutive, being about two or three cubits in height; that they exclaim bak, bak, bak, and that they have a few articulate sounds, which they mutually understand among themselves; that they are extremely swift of foot, and run as fast as horses. The Arimaspi of Herodotus are called by the Arabs Hel Ferdie, these are represented by the Arabs of the Desert as living at the foot of the lofty mountains of the Moon, near Abyssinia: the male and female are equally without hair on their head, having large chins and nostrils, like the ape species; they are said to have a language of their own; their costume is a jelabea, and a belt, without shoes or head dress; their country is said to abound in gold. It is "a consummation devoutly to be wished," that our knowledge of Africa should increase so as to enable us to unravel the mystery of these doubtful reports, to ascertain the degree of credit that is due to these mysterious traditions. These desiderata, however, can hardly 201 be expected, whilst the present injudicious plans for the discovery of Africa are persevered in. We must, if we desire to discover effectually the hidden recesses and reported wonders of this continent, adopt plans and schemes very different from any that have hitherto been suggested; we must adopt a grand system upon an extensive scale, a system directed and moved by a person competent to so great an undertaking. The head or director of such an expedition should be master of the general travelling and trafficking language of Africa, the modern Arabic: he should moreover be acquainted with the character of the people, their habits, modes of life, religious prejudices, and fanaticism. A grand plan, thus directed, could hardly fail to secure the command of the commerce of Africa to Great Britain. Then the discovery of the inmost recesses would follow the path of commerce, and that continent, which has baffled the researches of the moderns as well as of the ancients, would lay open its treasures to modern Europe, and civilisation would be the natural result. Then would be the period to attempt the conversion of the Negroes to Christianity; and the standard of peace and good will towards men might be successfully planted on the banks of the Nile El Kabeer, or Nile Assudan, the Great Nile, or Nile of Sudan, or Nigritia, commonly called the Niger.

202

CAUTIONS TO BE USED IN TRAVELLING.

Danger of travelling after Sun-set.--The Emperor holds himself accountable for Thefts committed on Travellers, whilst travelling between the rising and the setting Sun.--Emigration of Arabs.--Patriarchal Style of living among the Arabs; Food, Clothing, domestic Looms, and Manufactures.--Riches of the Arabs calculated by the Number of Camels they possess.--Arabian Women are good Figures, and have personal Beauty; delicate in their Food; poetical Geniuses; Dancing and Amusements; Musical Instruments; their Manners are courteous.

Travellers in West and South Barbary should never be out after sun-set: it is not safe to travel in many parts of the country during the night. The emperor holds himself accountable for thefts committed between the rising and the setting sun; so that, if a traveller be robbed of property, the value should be ascertained, and an application being made to the bashaw of the province where the robbery was committed it will be restored forthwith; but if there be any demur, an application should be made to the Emperor, personally, if possible, but if not, by letter; and the district is immediately ordered to pay double the loss, one half to the person robbed, and the other half to the Imperial treasury. 203 These robberies, however, rarely occur; for the bashaws of the provinces and the alkaids of the douars feel it a duty incumbent on them to protect all travellers and strangers; so that they would, in the event of a robbery being committed, expose themselves to a severe reprimand from the emperor, and an intimation that they were, by suffering such irregularity, incompetent to their situation, and would be liable to a heavy fine, or a discharge from their office, for neglect of vigilance, which, in this country, is considered very reprehensible.

Travelling through the province of Suse, I once witnessed the emigration of an extensive douar of Arabs, amounting to about 200 families. They were just leaving their habitation, where they had been encamped only a few months: it was a fine grazing country; the camels, horses, mules, asses, oxen and cows, were all laden with the tents and baggage of these wanderers. On enquiring the cause of this emigration, I was told that the inhabitants were infested with musquitoes and fleas to such a degree, that they had all unanimously resolved to emigrate to another place, which they had fixed upon, and that they would reach it by night. These wandering Arabs, without any fixed habitation, are of a restless, ungovernable spirit: they never cultivate the earth, as do the Arabs of the plains of Marocco, but live, for the most part, on camels' milk, occasionally killing a camel or a goat for food; 204 grazing their camels in the adjacent country: they live in the true Patriarchal style, and seek the means of supplying all their wants within themselves. To effect this purpose, they barter a few of their camels for wool, and thus supply themselves with that article for clothing, which is made in every (keyma) Arab tent, by the women, at their own respective looms; each female being the manufacturer for her own family. The cloth is wove in pieces of seven cubits long and about two and a half broad, of the natural colour of the wool: these pieces of cloth are afterwards converted into cloaks, mantles, and tunics. Those who choose to indulge in the luxury of dress, by wearing linen, or turbans, send a few goat-skins, collected from the goats that have served them occasionally for food, to Mogodor, or Marocco, or barter them with some Jews for linen or shoes, and thus supply all their wants; so that their resources considerably exceed their wants, for some of them have several thousand camels which cost them nothing. These animals browse on the bushes in the environs of their habitations, and are continually increasing and multiplying. They never kill any animal for food until full grown: this custom, from which the Arab never departs, is manifestly calculated to increase property, which, being invested in camels, is transportable, without trouble or expense, wherever they choose.

The Arabs are gay and cheerful; the brow of care is rarely seen 205 among them. The more children they have, the greater the blessing. They turn their hands in early youth to some useful purpose: so soon as they can walk they attend the camels, or are put to some domestic occupation; thus forming a useful link in the chain of their patriarchal society. The independence of these Arabs is depicted in their physiognomy; they are oppressed by no cankering care, no anxiety, no anticipation of distress. The food and clothing of the Arab is always at hand; fuel is not required in this warm country; and a glass of cool water is all that is desired to allay the thirst. This simple and abstemious mode of living is congenial to the human constitution; accordingly they enjoy uninterrupted health: sickness is so uncommon with them that to be old and to be sick are synonymous terms. They think one cannot happen without the other. Some of the women of these people, whilst young, are extremely delicate, handsome, and have elegant figures. They account it gross to swallow food, that would, they say, fatten them like their Moorish neighbours; they therefore masticate it only. Their physiognomy is very interesting and animated; their features are regular; large black expressive eyes; a ready wit, poetic fancy, expressing themselves in poetic effusions, in which, from constant habit, some of them have become such adepts, that they with facility speak extempore poetry; those who are unable to 206 converse in this manner are less esteemed. Their evening amusements consist in dancing and music, vocal and instrumental. Generally, throughout all the Arab provinces, but particularly in Suse, among the Mograffra Arabs, the Woled Abbusebah, and Woled Deleim, the whole country is in a blaze of light of a summer's evening; music, dancing, and rejoicing, is heard in every direction. Their music consists of a kettle-drum, a flute or reed, similar to what Homer describes as the instrument of the ancient shepherds, a rhabeb or two-stringed fiddle, played with a semicircular bow, a tamboureen, and brass castanets. They play in precise time; and the ladies arrange themselves at the entrance of the sheik's tent. It is pleasant to observe the beauty of their fine-formed feet, uninjured by tight shoes, and free from corns and all excrescences. They dance some dances barefooted, making very short steps, scarcely raising the foot from the ground, in a peculiar manner. They have elegant and circular ankles; and their light motions fascinate the eyes of the spectators and the admiring strangers, who occasionally exclaim, (Allah éhrduh alikume ia Elarb) "the protection of God be upon you, O Arabs!" (makine fal Elarb,) "there are none comparable to the Arabs!" They have a very elegant shawl-dance: in the management of the shawl they display singular grace, and practise elegant figures, sometimes concealing their faces, 207 sometimes showing their brilliant eyes through an opening in the shawl. The manners of these ladies is courteous, but chaste; perfectly modest, but without reserve; and the other sex pay them courteous attention.

208

ABUNDANCE OF CORN PRODUCED IN WEST BARBARY.

Costly Presents made by Spain to the Emperor.--Bashaw of Duquella's weekly Present of a Bar of Gold.--Mitferes or Subterraneous Depositories for Corn.

The empire of Marocco, west of the Atlas, during the reign of Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah, father of the present Emperor Soliman, was one continued corn-field. At that time the exportation was free to all parts of the world. It is impossible to conceive the abundance produced in this prolific land, none but those who have actually seen the standing corn in the ear, and have seen it reaped, can form any correct idea of its prodigious increase. The plains of Rahamena, of Shawiya, of Temsena, of Abda, and Duquella, those immense plains of M'sharrah Rummellah, of Ait-Amor, and many others, form each, separately, extensive fields of corn, farther than the eye can reach. To give an idea of the quantity produced in the plains near Dar El Beida, it will be sufficient to say, that 250 sail of ships, from 150 to 700 tons, were loaded at that port in one year of Seedy Muhamed's reign. At the other ports on the 209 shores of the Atlantic, viz. at Arzilla, L'Araich, Meheduma, Rabat, Azamor, Mazagan, Saffy, and Mogodor, were shipped a quantity, almost equal in proportion to what was shipped at Dar-El-Beida, so that the duties at one dollar per fanegue, of 80 lb. weight on the exportation of wheat, barley, Indian corn, caravances, beans, and seeds, in one year, according to the imperial registers, amounted to 5,257,320 Mexico dollars. Besides which, presents to an incalculable amount were made from time to time by Spain and Portugal, particularly by the former, to keep the Emperor in good humour, and to prevent him from prohibiting the exportation of grain, of which however there was little chance, as his Imperial Majesty was always diligent in the accumulation of treasure, and let no opportunity pass of encouraging the agriculture of his dominions. This system gave general occupation to the Arabs, or agriculturists, and enriched them so universally, that the diffusion of wealth among them, produced other incalculable sources of revenue, insomuch that it was customary for Muhamed Ben Amaran, Bashaw of Duquella, to present to the Emperor at Marocco, every Friday, (the Muhamedan sabbath), as he returned home from the mosque, a massive bar of pure gold of Timbuctoo, valued at some 210 thousand dollars; which was considered as the fee by which he held his bashawick. The Arabs who are the agriculturists of the before-mentioned plains, besides the corn exported, lay up immense quantities in subterraneous caverns, constructed by a curious process, well deserving the attention of the colonists of South Africa; these repositories are called mitferes, they are constructed in a conical form, and will contain from 200 to 2000 quarters of corn. It is expedient, in their construction, to exclude the atmospheric air; and the soil, in which they are constructed, should be essentially conservative, the air being never changed, is constantly of the same temperature, very dry, and not subject to the variations of humidity, which affect the external air: this, with other necessary precautions being observed, they will preserve the corn twenty or thirty years perfectly sound. In countries, (like that of the Cape of Good Hope,) subject to drought, inundations, or locusts, these mitferes, or catacombs are indispensable, as they preserve corn as a reserve stock, in the event of scarcity, or famine, produced by any of the before mentioned calamities, or providential visitations. It is 211 more than probable that this singular art of constructing mitferes, was derived in ancient times from the catacombs of Egypt, and that Joseph might have preserved Pharaoh's corn upwards of seven years, in similar magazines. The Emperor Seedi Muhamed, who possessed considerable talent, and had a perfect knowledge of the disposition and character of his subjects, used to say in the (em'shoer,) place of audience, before all the people, in the latter part of his reign:--"You complain of my decrees; but when I am departed from this world, you shall seek for one day of Seedi Muhamed's reign, but you shall not find it." This prediction has been literally verified throughout the respective reigns of his sons Muley Yezzed, and Muley El Hesham, and even his son the present Emperor has often manifested an anti-commercial system, and has accordingly (probably by the advice of the Fakeers belonging to the divan) prohibited the exportation of most articles of clothing, and provision, such as wool, Fas manufactures, corn, olive oil, raisins, &c.

A wine company, consisting of gentlemen of practical experience in that branch of business, might form a most beneficial establishment 212 at Santa Cruz, whither the grapes of Edautenan are brought to market, and other grapes from the Arab countries, of exquisite quality and flavour, infinitely superior in richness, size, and flavour to those of Spain and Portugal, or any part of Italy; indeed, I have no hesitation in declaring, (without fear of contradiction,) that this country produces the finest grapes, oranges, and pomegranates in the world, and in the greatest abundance. I have myself tasted at Marocco, at a Hebrew Rabbi's table, excellent imitations of burgundy, claret, champagne, madeira, and rhenish, or old hock, all the produce of grapes reared in the plains of that city, and in the adjacent mountains. The port of Santa Cruz, if purchased of the Emperor by the English, would, besides securing the trade to Sudan, and the interior of Africa, supply the London market with abundance of all these excellent wines. 213 DOMESTIC SERPENTS OF MAROCCO.

Every house in Marocco has, or ought to have, a domestic serpent: I say ought to have, because those that have not one, seek to have this inmate, by treating it hospitably whenever one appears; they leave out food for it to eat during the night, which gradually domiciliates this reptile. These serpents are reported to be extremely sagacious, and very susceptible. The superstition of these people is extraordinary; for rather than offend these serpents, they will suffer their women to be exposed during sleep to their performing the office of an infant. They are considered, in a house, emblematical of good, or prosperity, as their absence is ominous of evil. They are not often visible; but I have seen them passing over the beams of the roof of the apartments. A friend of mine was just retired to bed at Marocco, when he heard a noise in the room, like something crawling over his head, he arose, looked about the room, and discovered one of these reptiles about four feet long, of a dark colour, he pricked it with his sword, and killed it, then returned to bed. In the morning he called to him the master of the house where he was a guest, and telling him he had attacked the serpent, the Jew was chagrined, and expostulated with him, for the injury he had done him: apprehensive that evil would visit him, he intimated to his guest, that he hoped he would leave his house, as he feared the malignity of the serpent; and he was not reconciled until my friend discovered to him that he had actually killed the reptile.

214

MANUFACTURES OF FAS.

Superior Manufacture of Gold-thread.--Imitation of precious Stones.--Manufactory of Gun-barrels in Suse.--Silver-mine.

The manufactures of West Barbary, are of various kinds. They excel, in the city of Fas, in the manufacture of woollens, cottons, silks, and gold-thread. The wool and cotton are made into hayks, which are pieces of cloth five feet wide, and about three and a half, or four yards long, used to throw loosely over the dress, when they go out into the external air: it resembles the Roman toga, and when tastefully adjusted, gives an elegance to the Moorish costume. These hayks are manufactured in most of the private families of Fas; the women employ themselves about them, and sell them to the merchants. They are sometimes made of cotton mixed with silk, and also altogether of silk. They make also pieces of silk of various bright colours, called bulawan; the sky-blue, dark-blue, scarlet, and yellow, are vivid colours, produced by their mode of dying the silk before it is manufactured. They manufacture their silks from Bengal raw silk, which they call emfitla. The bulawan is 215 striped, or chequered, pink, blue, yellow, scarlet, and green: it resembles what is called, in England, Persian, but it is much stronger, and more durable, though equally light. The silk sashes, called hazam, are made in large quantities, and are deserving of imitation in Europe; they are very substantial, but of the same superior colours with the bulawan. They are made generally half a yard wide, and three yards long: these sell at Fas, from two to fifty dollars each. The superior kind made for the ladies of the horam, or emperor's seraglio, for the ladies of the bashaws, and for those of the great and opulent, are intermixed with a beautiful gold-thread, much superior to any that is manufactured in Europe, insomuch, that the gold-thread imported from Leghorn and Marseilles is used only in such hazams as are made for exportation to Sudan, Draha, or Bled-el-Jereed, but those made for the great and opulent, for home consumption, are manufactured with the gold thread of the Fas manufacture. Whether these expert artificers learned the mystery of gold beating, and gold wire drawing, by which they obtain gold-thread, from the 216 Egyptians, I am not competent to say; but they say they derived it in ancient times from the Arabs, as well as the art of cutting, polishing, and setting precious stones. They make a composition in imitation of amber, which cannot, by the keenest eye, be distinguished from the natural amber, the latter, however, by friction attracts cotton, but the manufactured amber does not; this is the only criterion by which they ascertain the true from the false amber. They also compose artificial stones with equal sagacity; the topaz, the emerald, and the ruby they imitate to perfection. The wool with which they make shawls almost equal in appearance to those of Kashmere, is procured from the sheep of the province of Tedla, and is finer than the Spanish Merino. They might manufacture shawls of goats' hair, equal to those of Kashmere, from the goats of the eastern declivity of the Atlas, whose hair is like silk: these goats are called (el maize Felelley,) i.e. Tafilelt goats. There can be no doubt, if our intercourse with Marocco 217 had not been impeded by a general ignorance of the language of that country, that we might long since have received from the manufacturers of Fas, shawls of Tafilelt goat-hair, equal to the finest of the Kashmere manufacture. There is a very extensive manufactory of red woollen caps at Fas, the contexture of which is well deserving investigation. There is also a manufactory of gun locks and barrels; the former appear to have reached the acmé of the art, the latter are not so good as those which they procure from Europe: so that a Spanish or an English barrel, and a Fas lock, is considered a complete gun. Such articles of manufacture as require a complication of machinery and power to produce they import from Europe, except only when the market is bare, and then necessity compels them to attempt their construction. The (hayk Filelly,) i.e. Tafilelt hayk, is a fine elegant woollen cloth, thin as a muslin. The Emperor Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah patronised this manufacture of his native country, and never wore any other. The art of manufacturing leather is carried to great perfection at Mequinas: shoes of the thinnest leather are there made impervious to water. The manufactures at Marocco and Terodant are similar to those of Fas, with the exception of that of gold-thread, and the cutting and polishing of precious stones. The preparation of leather at Marocco surpasses any thing known in Europe: lion and tiger skins they prepare white as snow, and soft as silk. There are 218 two plants that grow in the Atlas mountains, the leaves of which they use in the manufacture of leather; they are called tizra, and tasaya. Whether these render the leather impervious, I am not competent to say; every inquiry that I have made at Marocco respecting this beautiful manufacture, has been unsatisfactory. I have always found the manufacturers very guarded, and extremely jealous; but I have often thought that two or three of our leather manufacturers, well versed in their art, and withal of penetrating minds, might contrive to extract the secret from them. In the mountains of Idaultit, in Lower Suse, they have iron-mines, and they make gun-barrels and gun-locks equal to what are made at Fas. The temptations to agriculture, however, are such, that sufficient only for the consumption of their own kabyl are manufactured; which is done rather from a principle of self-defense, and from the amor patriæ, than with a view to gain. The silver from the mines of Elala, comes to the Santa Cruz market pure, and in round lumps, weighing about two ounces each. I have bought it for its weight in Spanish dollars; but it is generally taken to the Mint for sale. Ores of gold from the mines of South Barbary, and silver dust from the bed of the river at Messa, collected personally by me, I sent to England to be assayed: the person who got them assayed, reported, that the metal yielded was scarcely sufficient to pay the charges of assaying; so that the speculation was abandoned.

219

ON THE STATE OF SLAVERY IN MUHAMEDAN AFRICA.

The state of slavery in this country is very different from that which is experienced by the unfortunate men who are transported from Africa to work under our Christian brethren in the West India islands. No man, who is sufficiently erudite to read the Koran can be (abd) a slave in a Muhamedan country. It is incumbent on a good mûselman to give such his liberty, that the propagation of the (Deen el Wâsah) mûselman faith, be not impeded. A man who has served his master faithfully seven years, sometimes gets liberated. This liberation, however, is not compulsory; but conscientious mûselmen, of good moral character, often adopt this enlarging system. I have, however, met with many Moors, who, on offering liberty to their slaves, the latter have declined it, preferring to continue in obeisance; a clear proof that their servitude is not very severe. All slaves, without exception, are brought to this country from the various territories of Sudan, by the akkabars, kaffilas, or caravans, that traverse Sahara. They are all pagans or idolaters (from the interior regions). They are worth 220 from ten to twenty dollars at Timbuctoo; and at Marocco and Fas they sell for, from seventy to one hundred dollars. They are received into the Moorish families as domestic servants, and soon forget their idolatrous superstitions, and become (nominally at least) Muhamedans. After which, many learn to read the Koran, and becoming observers of ablution and prostration, often procure their liberation; for if any one should neglect to liberate such a slave, his brethren in Muhamed will urge him to it, as a good and charitable work, becoming a true, mûselman.

The man who wrote the letter from Timbuctoo, giving his master at Mogodor an account of Mungo Park, having visited Kabria, which