Travels Through the Empire of Morocco

LETTER XXIII.. Embark for Gibraltar--Precautionary Hints.

Embark for Gibraltar--Precautionary Hints.

APPENDIX.

No. I.--Letter from J. Turnbull, Esq. General Chairman of the Merchants trading to the Mediterranean, recommending Dr. Buffa for a civil medical Appointment at Gibraltar.--Dated 5th August 1805.

No. II.--Letter from the Secretary of the Transport Board, informing Dr. Buffa that a Passage in one of His Majesty's Transports to Gibraltar was ordered for him and his Family.

No. III.--Extract of a Letter from John Turnbull, Esq. Chairman of the Committee of Merchants trading to the Levant, &c. to Dr. Buffa.

No. IV.--Extract of a Letter from John Ross, Esq. Acting Consul General at Tangiers, to Dr. Buffa.

No V.--Letter sent by a Courier from the Court of Morocco to J. Ross, Esq. by Permission of His Imperial Majesty's First Minister, after Dr. Buffa's having finally settled the Difference excited at that Time by the French Party in Barbary, between that Country and Great Britain.

No. VI.--Letter from Captain Stewart, of His Majesty's Ship Seahorse, to the Government of Morocco, for Supplies; which Dr. Buffa was directed to answer, after having procured the said Supplies without any Charge.

No. VII.--Letter from Admiral the Right Hon. Lord Collingwood, to the Government of Morocco, in answer to Dr. Buffa's Official Letter to Captain Stewart, touching on various public Matters.

No. VIII.--An Official Letter written by Dr. Buffa, by particular Direction of the Emperor of Morocco, in answer to a Letter of Lord Collingwood of the 8th July 1806, giving his Lordship Information of the happy Termination of the Negotiations which Dr. Buffa carried on, and which all the Representations of Mr. Ross to that Court were unable to effect; which gave rise to a very long and expensive Correspondence between Mr. Ross and Dr. Buffa, Long carried on by constant Couriers.

No. IX.--Letter written by Command of the Emperor of Morocco, to Lord Collingwood, in favour of Dr. Buffa.

No. X.--Translation of a Letter from the Emperor of Morocco to the King. Referred to in the Petition.

Nos. XI. and XII.--Copies of two Letters received from the Government bf Morocco, to which Dr. Buffa has hitherto been unable to reply.

TRAVELS,

&c.

LETTER I.. Inducement for the Journey--Arrive At Tangiers--Its History--

Inducement for the Journey--Arrive at Tangiers--Its History-- Situation--Inhabitants--Military--Governor--Fortifications-- Subterraneous Passage--Socco, or Market--Adjacent Villas--Invited to Larache.

Tangiers, January 12th, 1806.

I have long felt very desirous to visit a country, which, notwithstanding the many revolutions it has undergone, and the enlightened characters of its conquerors, is regarded as still immersed in a degree of barbarism almost unparalleled. It appeared to me next to impossible that a nation so contiguous to Europe, with which it has for centuries maintained a constant intercourse, could have remained in a state of such profound ignorance.

Impressed with these ideas, I readily embraced the offer of a friend to accompany him from Gibraltar to this place, intending to travel further up the country, should I meet with sufficient inducement from the result of my observations here. We landed on the first of this month, and the intermediate time I have employed in obtaining information relative to the town of Tangiers from the earliest tradition to the present time. As the particulars I have collected do not appear devoid of Interest, I flatter myself, you will be gratified that I should have made them the subject of a letter.

This town, which by the ancients was called Tingis, or Tingir, and appears to have been the metropolis of the Western Mauritania, or Tingitania, as it was named, to distinguish it from Mauritania Cæsariensis; according to Pliny and others, was first founded ed fay Antæus (about a thousand years before Christ), the same who was afterwards conquered and slain by Hercules. The giant is supposed to have been buried here: and the report of Plutarch, that his tomb was opened by Sertorius, and a corpse sixty cubits or more in length, taken out of it, confirms the idea. But according to others, Tingis, or the present Tangiers, lays claim to a more ancient founder than Antæus. Procopius mentions, that in his time were standing two pillars of white stone, upon which were inscribed in the Phoenician characters the following words: "We are the Canaanites who fed from Joshua, the son of Nun."

A colony of Carthaginians settled here, and it is most probable that a flourishing trade was carried on by them, as the situation of Tangiers is extremely well adapted for that purpose. Indeed the name Tingis, in the language of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, signifies an emporium. When the Mauritaniæ became subject to the Romans, in the reign of Julius Cæsar, Bocchus, the son-in-law of Jugurtha, having defeated Bogud, the king of Mauritania Tingitania, he became possessed of that country, and Augustus, or, as some say, Octavius, confirmed this acquisition to him; and the inhabitants of Tingis were allowed the privileges of Roman citizens.

I cannot discover any thing further remarkable of Tangiers from the time it became a Roman colony, and during the period it was possessed by the Saracens, till the latter end of the fourteenth century, when it was taken by the Portuguese, who erected fortifications and other public works. It continued in their possession for nearly two centuries; and was at length given to our King, Charles the Second, as part of the dowry of his consort Catharine, We did not keep it long; for, owing to the little harmony that subsisted between that Monarch and his Parliament, it was ceded to the Moors in 1684, after we had blown up all the fortifications, and utterly destroyed the harbour. Since that event, it seems to have been gradually dwindling into its present insignificance.

I have before observed, that the situation of Tangiers is well adapted to the purposes of commerce, being about two miles within the Straits of Gibraltar (or Hercules); but the ruins of the fortifications and harbour have rendered the anchorage in the bay of Tangiers very unsafe. This is a great obstacle to trade; very little is carried on there at present, and that little is by a few Jews, and lately, by a Spanish merchant of the name of Don Pedro.

The town being built on the declivity of that high tract of land called Cape Spartel (the Cape Cottes or Ampelusian of the ancients), it is seen at a great distance; but on entering the bay, it appears to the best advantage. It is defended by two martello towers, a castle, and a large battery; but I am confident that it could not withstand the attack of a few English frigates, and that such a force from the bay might destroy the town in the space of a few hours. Notwithstanding the vicissitudes to which this place has been exposed, it still possesses a superiority over the other towns in the empire of Morocco; it is the capital of the kingdom, and the residence of the Consuls General of the powers in amity with his Imperial Majesty. The houses of these foreign residents are constructed with great taste in the European style; the habitations of the Moors are neat; the air is pure and salubrious; the supply of excellent water, abundant; and the market cheap and plentiful. This combination of advantages renders Tangiers, in many points of view, an eligible residence. The European society, which consists almost solely of the families of the foreign consuls, is pleasant and agreable, The adjacent country is beautifully romantic; and the opposite coast and bay present a most delightful prospect. The Moorish inhabitants are all soldiers, very poor, and entirely subject to the arbitrary will of the Emperor. It is capable of furnishing, at a moment's warning, three thousand cavalry, and two thousand infantry and artillery-men; but these troops are badly trained, and without order or discipline: I attended their evening parade yesterday, and was truly diverted with the sorry appearance of their best militia-men, who were to mount guard for the night. These Moorish soldiers are remarkably addicted to cheating. It is probably owing to their excessive indolence, which prevents them from making the usual exertions for obtaining a livelihood, and induces them to adopt the more expeditious mode of extorting from strangers the means of subsistence; but as they are not often presented with an object of prey, they continually labour against the pressure of extreme poverty. Tangiers is under the government of Sidy Ash-Ash; who resides at Tetuan. He is by no means partial to the English, but devoted to France; influenced by French principles, and French interest. Excepting a few small armed vessels, fitted out for piracy, there is no shipping in the harbour. I have observed none for the purpose of commerce; all their goods are exported in foreign bottoms; and when they bring in a prize, the vessel remains unsold for a considerable length of time, and it is always disposed of to a foreign merchant.

Several remains of the European fortifications are yet visible; the Moors have repaired some, among which the western bastions still form a principal part of the strength of the place. The castle, which appears to have been built before the time of the Portuguese, stands in a commanding position upon one of the most prominent rocks of this coast. By an order of the Emperor, all the civil and military officers of this town are obliged to reside in it.

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