Travels in Morocco, Volume 1.

CHAPTER II.. Arrival At Tangier.--Moorish Pilgrims in Cordova.--Address of the

Arrival at Tangier.--Moorish Pilgrims in Cordova.--Address of the Anti-Slavery Society.--Mr. D. Hay, British Consul.--Institut d'Afrique.--Conveyance of Eunuchs in vessels under the French Flag.--Franco-Moorish Politics.--Corn Monopolies in Morocco.--Love and veneration for the English name--Celebration of the Ayd-Kebir, or great festival.--Value of Money in Morocco.--Juvenile Strolling Singer.--General account of the city of Tangier.--Intercourse between the Moorish Emperor and the Foreign Consuls.--Cockney sportsmen.--The degrading of high Moorish Functionaries.--How we smuggle Cattle from Tangier to Gibraltar.--The Blood-letting of plethoric Placemen.

CHAPTER III.. The Posada.--Ingles and Benoliel.--Amulets for Successful

The Posada.--Ingles and Benoliel.--Amulets for successful parturition.--Visits of a Moorish Taleb and a Berber.--Three Sundays during a week in Barbary.--M. Rey's account of the Empire of Morocco.--The Government Auctioneer gives an account of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Morocco.--Benoliel as English Cicerone.--Departure from Tangier to Gibraltar.--How I lost my fine green broad-cloth.--Mr. Frenerry's opinion of Maroquine Affairs.

CHAPTER IV.. Departure From Gibraltar to Mogador.--the Straits.--Genoese

Departure from Gibraltar to Mogador.--The Straits.--Genoese Sailors.--Trade-wind Hurricanes on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco.--Difficulties of entering the Port of Mogador.--Bad provisioning of Foreign Merchantmen.--The present Representative of the once far-famed and dreaded Rovers.--Disembarkation at Mogador.--Mr. Phillips, Captain of the Port.--Rumours amongst the People about my Mission.--Visit to the Cemeteries.--Maroquine Wreckers.--Health of the inhabitants of Mogador.--Moorish Cavaliers "playing at powder" composed of the ancient Numidians.--The Barb.--The Life Guards of the Moorish Emperor.--Martial character of the Negro.--Some account of the Black Corps of the Shereefs.--Orthodoxy of the Shereefs, and illustrative anecdotes of the various Emperors.

CHAPTER V.

Several visits from the Moors; their ideas on soldiers and payment of public functionaries.--Mr. Cohen and his opinion on Maroquine affairs.-- Phlebotomising of Governors, and Ministerial responsibility.--Border Travels of the Shedma and Hhaha tribes.--How the Emperor enriches himself by the quarrels of his subjects.--Message from the Emperor respecting the Anti-Slavery Address.--Difficulties of travelling through or residing in the Interior.--Use of Knives, and Forks, and Chairs are signs of Social Progress.--Account of the periodical visit of the Mogador Merchants to the Emperor, in the Southern Capital.

CHAPTER VI.

Influence of French Consuls.--Arrival of the Governor of Mogador from the Capital; he brings an order to imprison the late Governor; his character, and mode of administering affairs.--Statue of a Negress at the bottom of a well.--Spanish Renegades.--Various Wedding Festivals of Jews.--Frequent Fêtes and Feastings among the Jewish population of Morocco.--Scripture Illustration, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh!"--Jewish Renegades.--How far women have souls.--Infrequency of Suicides.

CHAPTER VII.

Interview with the Governor of Mogador, on the Address of the Anti-Slavery Society.--Day and night side of the Mission Adventure.--Phillips' application to be allowed to stand with his "shoes on" before the Shereefian presence.--Case of the French Israelite, Darmon, who was killed by the Government.--Order of the Government against Europeans smoking in the streets.--Character of Haj Mousa, Governor of Mazagran.--Talmudical of a Sousee Jew.--False weights amongst the Mogador Merchants.--Rumours of war from the North, and levy of troops.--Bragadocio of the Governor.--Mr. Authoris's opinion on the state of of the Country.--Moorish opinions on English Abolition.-- European Slavery in Southern Morocco.--Spanish Captives and the London Ironmongers Company.--Sentiments of Barbary Jews on Slavery.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. I.

Interior of a Moorish House

City of Tangier

Port of Mogador

Christian Burial Place

Moorish Cemetery

Nubian Cavalry of Ancient Africa

Wadnoun

VOL. II.

The Snake-Charmer

City of Morocco

Fish found in Hot Springs

Water-Snake

The Aoudad

TRAVELS IN MOROCCO.

CHAPTER I.

Policy of the Court of Morocco.--Its strength.--Diplomatic Intercourse with England.--Distrust of Europeans.--Commercial Relations.

Morocco is the China of North Africa. The grand political maxim of the Shereefian Court is, the exclusion of strangers; to look upon all strangers with distrust and suspicion; and should they, at any time, attempt to explore the interior of Morocco, or any of the adjacent counties, to thwart and circumvent their enterprise, is a veritable feat of statesmanship in the opinion of the Shereefian Court. The assassination of Mr. Davidson, some years since, is an odious and enduring stigma on the Moorish Court, notwithstanding the various efforts which have been made to deny the personal responsibility of the Emperor in that transaction.

The Prince de Joinville was once going to open Morocco, as we opened China; but bullets and shot which his Royal Highness showered upon Tangier and Mogador, only closed faster the approaches and routes of this well-guarded empire--only more hermetically sealed the capitals of Fez and Morocco against the prying or morbid curiosity of the tourist, or the mappings and measurings of the political spy. The striking anecdote, illustrating the exclusive policy of the Maroquine Court, is familiar to all who have read the history of the Moorish Sultans of the Mugreb. Years ago, a European squadron threatened to bombard Tangier, unless their demands were instantly satisfied; and the then reigning Sultan sent down from Fez this imperial message:

"How much will the enemy give me if I myself burn to ashes my well-beloved city of Tangier? Tell the enemy, O governor of the mighty city of Tangier, that I can reduce this self-same city to a heap of smoking ruins, at a much cheaper rate than he can, with all his ships, his warlike machines, and his fighting men."

The strength of Morocco lies in her internal cities, her inland population, and the natural difficulties of her territory; about her coast she cares little; but the French did not find this out till after their bombardments. The unwonted discovery led them afterwards to boast that they had at length opened Morocco by the other and opposite system of a pacific mission. The parties forming the mission, pretended to have obtained from the Emperor permission for Europeans "to travel in Morocco without let or hindrance whithersoever they will." But the opposition press justly ridiculed the pretensions of the alleged concession, as the precarious and barren result of a mission costing several million of francs. Even an Englishman, but much more a Frenchman--and the latter is especially hated and dreaded in all the Maroquine provinces, would have considerably hesitated in placing confidence in the safe conduct of this jealous Court.

The spirit of the Christian West, which has invaded the most secret councils of the Eastern world, Persia, Turkey, and all the countries subjected to Ottoman rule, is still excluded by the haughty Shereefs of the Mahometan West. There is scarcely any communication between the port and the court of the Shereefs, and the two grand masters of orthodox Islamism, this of the West, and that of the East, are nearly strangers to each other.

All that Muley Errahman has to do with the East, appears to be to procure eunuchs and Abyssinian concubines for his harem from Egypt, and send forward his most faithful, or most rebellious subjects on their pilgrimage to Mecca.

Englishmen are surprised, that the frequent visits and uninterrupted communications between Morocco and Gibraltar, during so long a period, should have produced scarcely a perceptible change in the minds of the Moors, and that Western Barbary should be a century behind Tunis. This circumstance certainly does not arise from any inherent inaptitude in the Moorish character to entertain friendly relations with Europeans, and can only have resulted from that crouching and subservient policy which the Gibraltar authorities have always judged it expedient to show towards the Maroquines.

Our diplomatic intercourse began with Morocco in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and though on friendly terms more or less ever since, Englishmen have not yet obtained a recognised permission to travel in the interior of the country, without first specially applying to its Government. Our own countrymen know little of Morocco, or of its inhabitants, customs, laws, and government; and, though only five or six days sail from England, it must be regarded as an unknown and unexplored region to the mass of the English nation.

Nevertheless, in spite of the Maroquine Empire being the most conservative and unchangeable of all North African Mussulman states, and whilst, happily for itself, it has been allowed to pursue its course obscurely and noiselessly, without exciting particular attention in Europe, or being involved in the wars and commotions of European nations, Morocco is not, therefore, beyond the reach of changes and the ravages of time, nor exempt from that mutability which is impressed upon all sublunary states. The bombardments of Tangier and Mogador have left behind them traces not easily to be effaced. It was no ordinary event for Morocco to carry on hostilities with an European power.

The battle of Isly has deeply wounded the Shereefians, and incited the Mussulman heart to sullen and unquenchable revenge. A change has come over the Maroquine mind, which, as to its immediate effects, is evidently for the worst towards us Christians. The distrust of all Europeans, which existed before the French hostilities, is now enlarged to hatred, a feeling from which even the English are hardly excepted. Up to the last moment, the government and people of Morocco believed that England would never abandon them to their unscrupulous and ambitious neighbours.

The citizens and merchants of Mogador could not be brought to believe, or even to entertain the idea that the British ships of war would quietly look on, whilst the French--the great rivals and enemies of the English--destroyed their towns and batteries. Most manifest facts and stern realities dissipated, in an hour when they little thought of it, such a fond delusion. From that moment, the moral influence of England, once our boast, and not perhaps unreasonably so, was no longer felt in Morocco; and now we have lost almost all hold on the good wishes and faith of the Mussulman tribes of that immense country.

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