Travels in Morocco, Vol. 1. - James Richardson
TRAVELS IN MOROCCO,
BY THE LATE JAMES RICHARDSON,
AUTHOR OF "A MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA,"
"TRAVELS IN THE DESERT OF SAHARA," &C.
EDITED BY HIS WIDOW.
[Illustration]
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
INTRODUCTION.
Having made a limited tour in the Empire of Morocco a few years since, I
am enabled to appreciate the information imparted to us by the lamented
Richardson, and am desirous of adding a few observations of my own upon
the present state of affairs in that part of the African Continent.
The following work of the indefatigable traveller demands, at the
present moment, a more than ordinary share of public attention, in
consequence of the momentous events now passing in the Straits of
Gibraltar, where the presence of powerful armaments entails on the
Governor of our great rock-fortress, a duty of some delicacy, situated
as he now is in close proximity to three belligerent powers, all of whom
are at peace with Great Britain. But distinguished alike for common
sense and professional ability, Sir William Codrington, it is to be
hoped, will steer clear of the follies committed by Sir Robert Wilson in
1844, and will command respect for the British name, without provoking
bitter feelings between ourselves, and our French and Spanish
neighbours.
It is scarcely possible that either France or Spain can contemplate the
conquest of the entire Empire of Morocco, as the result of the present
impending crisis, the superficial extent of the territory being 219,420
square miles, and the population nearly 8,000,000, [1] of which a large
proportion live in a state of perpetual warfare, occupying inaccessible
mountain fastnesses, from whence they only descend to the plains for the
sake of plunder. The inhabitants may be classified as follows: 4,000,000
Moors and Arabs; 2,000,000 Berbers; 500,000 Jews, and the remainder are
of the Negro race. The regular Army consists of less than thirty
thousand men, but every Arab is an expert irregular horseman, and the
Berbers make good foot-soldiers.
These indeed are, in ordinary times, rarely to be depended on by the
Emperor, but so powerful an incentive is religious fanaticism that, were
he to raise the standard of the Holy War, a large Army would quickly
rally around him, deficient perhaps in discipline, yet living by
plunder, and marching without the encumbrance of baggage, it would prove
a formidable opponent.
Let us, however, suppose, that the present action of France and Spain
should result in the subversion of the atrocious system of Government
practised in Morocco: a guarantee from the conquerors that our existing
commercial privileges should be respected, would alone be required to
ensure the protection of our interests, and what an extended field would
the facilities for penetrating into the interior open to us! We must
also remember that Napoleon III. in heart, is a free-trader; and, should
Destiny ever appoint him the arbiter of Morocco, the protectionist
pressure of a certain deluded class in France would be impotent against
his policy in Western Barbary, a country perhaps more hostile to the
European than China. Sailors and others, who have had the misfortune to
be cast on the inhospitable shore of Northern Africa, have been sent far
inland into slavery to drag out a miserable existence; and, at this
moment, there are many white Christian slaves in the southern and
eastern provinces of the Empire.
Should the war not result in conquest, the least we have a right to
expect, is that toleration should be forced upon the Moors, and that
European capital and labour should be allowed a free development
throughout their Empire. A flourishing trade would soon spring up,
nature having blessed Barbary with an excellent soil and climate,
besides vast mineral wealth in its mountains; lead, copper, and antimony
are found in them. The plains produce corn, rice, and indigo; the
forests of cedar, ilex, cork, and olive-trees are scattered over a vast
extent, and contain antelopes, wild bears, and other species of game;
Barbary also possesses an excellent breed of horses. The principal
manufactures are leather, shawls and carpets.
England has, but a short time since, succeeded in emancipating her
Jewish brethren from their few remaining disabilities; an opportunity
may now be at hand, of ameliorating the condition of those in the Empire
of Morocco, who are forced to submit to a grinding persecution, and are
merely tolerated because they are useful. They supply many wants of the
Moorish population; are the best, and in many handicrafts, the only
artificers, and are much employed by the government in financial
occupations. They are compelled to occupy a distinct quarter of the town
they inhabit; are permitted only to wear black garments, are forbidden
to ride, the horse being considered too noble an animal to carry a Jew,
and are forced to take off their shoes on passing a mosque. Even the
little Moorish boys strike and ill-treat them in various ways, and the
slightest attempt at retaliation was formerly punished with death, and
would now be visited with the bastinado. They are more heavily taxed
than any other class, and special contributions are often levied on
them.
Alas! why should we respect the national existence of any community of
Mahometans? Have we effaced from our memory their treachery and inhuman
cruelty in India; their utter worthlessness in Turkey; their neglect in
taking advantage of the richness with which nature has blest the
countries in their possession; and their conquest from Christendom of
one of the fairest portions of Europe.
Civilization cries aloud for retribution on a race whose religion
teaches them to regard us as "dogs." Surely, far from protecting and
cherishing, we should hunt them out of the fair lands they occupy, and
force them back on the deserts which vomited them forth on our ancestors
ten centuries ago. Brief periods of glory at Bagdad, Cairo, and Granada,
should not protect those who are now slaves to the lowest vices that
degrade human nature. No administrative reforms are at all practicable;
their moral maladies have attacked the vital element; the sole cure is
conquest, and the substitution of Christian Governments in Northern
Africa, and Turkey in Europe and Asia. Russia, France, Austria, Greece,
and Spain are weary of the excesses of their savage neighbours; none can
be honestly inclined to stay their avenging swords.
I have, in these prefatory remarks, extracted a few particulars from the
short chapter on Morocco, contained in my work on the "French in
Africa," and in advocating a crusade against the Mahometan races, I
believe I am recording the sentiments of millions of Europeans.
It now only remains for me to give expression to that universal feeling
of regret which prevails among my countrymen at the untimely fate of
poor Richardson, and to offer my congratulations that he has bequeathed
to us so pleasing an addition to his former works as the following
narrative of his "Travels in Morocco."
L. TRENT CAVE, F.R.G.S.
Author of "The French in Africa."
Army and Navy Club,
November, 1859.
PREFACE.
The present unsettled state of affairs in Morocco, in consequence of the
War in which she is now engaged with her more powerful and ancient
enemy--Spain, must, I conceive, render any information regarding a
region so little known peculiarly acceptable at the present moment.
In Morocco, my late husband laboured to advance the same objects which
had previously taken him to Central Africa, viz., the amelioration of
the condition of the strange and remarkable races of men who inhabit
that part of the world. He aimed at the introduction of a legitimate
commerce with a view, in the first instance, to destroy the horrible and
revolting trade in slaves, and thus pave the way for the diffusion of
Christianity among a benighted people. While travelling, with these high
purposes in contemplation, he neglected no opportunity of studying the
geography of the country, and of obtaining an insight into the manners,
customs, prejudices, and sentiments of its inhabitants, as well as any
other useful information in relation to it.
I accompanied him on his travels in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, in
which last city he left me, it not being considered advisable that I
should proceed with him into the interior of the country. We were not
destined to meet again in this world. My beloved husband died at Bornou,
in Central Africa, whither he was sent by Her Majesty's Government to
enter into treaties with the chiefs of the surrounding districts.
Of the many difficulties and dangers which the traveller is likely to
encounter in penetrating into the interior of so inhospitable a region,
the reader may form some idea by a perusal of the the following extracts
from my husband's writings.
"I am very much of opinion that in African travel we should take
especial care not to attempt too much at once; that we should proceed
very slowly, feeling our way, securing ourselves against surprise, and
reducing and confining our explorations to the record of matters of fact
as far as possible, or consistently with a due illustration of the
narrative. But, whether we attempt great tours, or short journeyings, we
shall soon find, by our own sad experience, that African travel can only
be successfully prosecuted piecemeal, bit by bit, here a little and
there a little, now an island, now a line of coast, now an inland
province, now a patch of desert, and slow and painful in all their
results, whilst few explorers will ever be able to undertake more than
two, at most three, inland journeys.
"Failures, disasters, and misadventure may attend our efforts of
discovery; the intrepid explorers may perish, as they have so frequently
done, or be scalped by the Indian savage in the American wilderness, or
stabbed by the treacherous Bedouin of Asiatic deserts, or be stretched
stiff in the icy dreary Polar circles, or, succumbing to the burning
clime of Africa, leave their bones to bleach upon its arid sandy wastes;
yet these victims of enterprise will add more to a nation's glory than
its hoarded heaps of gold, or the great gains of its commerce, or even
the valour of its arms.
"Nevertheless, geographical discovery is not barren ardour, or wasted
enthusiasm; it produces substantial fruits. The fair port of London,
with its two parallel forests of masts, bears witness to the rich and
untold treasures which result from the traffic of our merchant-fleets
with the isles and continents discovered by the genius and enterprise of
the maritime or inland explorer. And, finally, we have always in view
the complete regeneration of the world, by our laws, our learning, and
our religion. If every valley is to be raised, and every mountain laid
low, by the spade and axe of industry, guided by science, the valley or
the mountain must first be discovered.
"If men are to be civilized, they must first be found; and if other, or
the remaining tribes of the inhabitable earth are to acknowledge the
true God, and accept His favour as known to us, they also, with
ourselves, must have an opportunity of hearing His name pronounced, and
His will declared."
My husband would, indeed, have rejoiced had he lived to witness the
active steps now taken by Oxford and Cambridge for sending out
Missionaries to Central Africa, to spread the light of the Gospel.
Among his unpublished letters, I find one addressed to the Christian
Churches, entitled "Project for the establishment of a Christian Mission
at Bornou," dated October, 1849. He writes: "The Christian Churches have
left Central Africa now these twelve centuries in the hands of the
Mohammedans, who, in different countries, have successfully propagated
the false doctrines of the impostor of Mecca. If the Christian Churches
wish to vindicate the honour of their religion--to diffuse its
beneficent and heavenly doctrines--and to remove from themselves the
severe censure of having abandoned Central Africa to the false prophet,
I believe there is now an opening, _via_ Bornou, to attempt the
establishment of their faith in the heart of Africa."
He ends his paper by quoting the words of Ignatius Pallme, a Bohemian,
the writer of travels in Kordofan, who says "It is high time for the
Missionary Societies in Europe to direct their attention to this part of
Africa (that is, Kordofan). If they delay much longer, it will be too
late; for, when the negroes have once adopted the Koran, no power on
earth can induce them to change their opinions. I have heard, through
several authentic sources, that there are few provinces in the interior
of Africa where Mohammedanism has not already begun to gain a footing."
It would be a great solace to me should this work be received
favourably, and be deemed to reflect honour on the memory of my lamented
husband; and, in the hope that such may be the case, I venture to commit
it into the hands of an indulgent public.
J.E. RICHARDSON.
London,
November 15, 1859.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
CHAPTER I.
Policy of the Court of Morocco.--Its strength.--Diploplomatic Intercourse
with England.--Distrust of Europeans.--Commercial Relations.
CHAPTER II.
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
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
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 Fetes 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 [2] 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.
As to exploring the empire of Morocco, or making it the way of
communication with Soudan or Central Negroland, this is now altogether
impracticable. The difficulties of Europeans travelling the Maroquine
States, always great and perilous, are now become nearly insuperable.
This suspicious distrust, or ill-feeling has communicated itself
contagiously to the tribes of the South as far as the Desert, and has
infected other parts of Barbary. The Engleez, once the cherished friends
of the Moors, are looked upon more or less as the abettors of French
aggressions in North Africa, if not as the sharers with them of the
spoil. In the language of the more plain-spoken Moors, "We always
thought all Christians alike, though we often excepted the English from
the number of our enemies, now we are certain we were wrong; the English
are become as much our enemies as the French and the Spaniards." The
future alone can disclose what will be the particular result of this
unfavourable feeling; both with respect to France and England, and to
other European nations. However, we may look forward without misgiving.
Islamism will wear itself out--the Crescent must wane.
In these preliminary observations, the commercial system of the
Maroquine Court deserves especial mention. The great object of Muley Abd
Errahman [3] is--nay, the pursuit of his whole life has been--to get the
whole of the trade of the empire into his own hands. In fact, he has by
this time virtually succeeded, though the thing is less ostentatiously
done than by the Egyptian viceroy, that equally celebrated
prince-merchant. In order to effect this, his Shereefian Majesty seeks
to involve in debt all the merchants, natives, or foreigners, tempting
them by the offer of profuse credit. As many of them as are needy and
speculative, this imperial boon is without scruple greedily accepted.
The Emperor likewise provides them with commodious houses and stores;
gives them at once ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of credit, and
is content to receive in return monthly instalments. These instalments
never are, never can be regularly paid up. The debt progressively and
indefinitely increases; and whilst they live like so many
merchant-princes, carrying on an immense trade, they are in reality
beggars and slaves of the Emperor. They are, however, styled _imperial_
merchants, and wear their golden chains with ostentatious pride.