several attempts, appeared to succeed in bringing off his stomach something in the shape of leaden bullets, which he then, with an air of holy swagger, presented to the astonished guard of the Bey. The dervish next spat on his patient’s hands, closed them in his own, then smoothed him down the back like a mountebank smooths his pony, and stroked also his head and beard; and, after further gentle and comely ceremonies of this sort, the charming of the charmer finished, and the Boab presented the holy man with his fee. We dined at the Kaed’s house; this functionary was a very venerable man, a perfect picture of a patriarch of the olden Scriptural times of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There was not a single article of furniture in the room, except a humble sofa, upon which he sat.
We inspected the old Kasbah at Ghafsa, which is in nearly a state of ruin, and looked as if it would soon be down about our ears. It is an irregular square, and built chiefly of the remains of ancient edifices. It was guarded by fifty Turks, whose broken-down appearance was in perfect harmony with the citadel they inhabited. The square in a building is the favourite form of the Moors and Mohammedans generally; the Kaaba of Mecca, the _sanctum sanctorum_, is a square. The Moors endeavour to imitate the sacred objects of their religion in every way, even in the commonest affairs of human existence, whilst likewise their troops of wives and concubines are only an earthly foretaste and an earnest of the celestial ladies they expect to meet hereafter.
We saw them making oil, which was in a very primitive fashion. The oil-makers were nearly all women. The olives were first ground between stones worked by the hands, until they became of the consistence of paste, which was then taken down to the stream and put into a wooden tub with water. On being stirred up, the oil rises to the top, which they skim off with their hands and put into skins or jars; when thus skimmed, they pass the grounds or refuse through a sieve, the water running off; the stones and pulp are then saved for firing. But in this way much of the oil is lost, as may be seen by the greasy surface of the water below where this rude process is going on. Among the oil-women, we noticed a girl who would have been very pretty and fascinating had she washed herself instead of the olives. We entered an Arab house inhabited by some twenty persons, chiefly women, who forthwith unceremoniously took off our caps, examined very minutely all our clothes with an excited curiosity, laughed heartily when we put our hands in our pockets, and wished to do the same, and then pulled our hair, looking under our faces with amorous glances. On the hill overlooking the town, we also met two women screaming frightfully and tearing their faces; we learned that one of them had lost her child. The women make the best blankets here with handlooms, and do the principal heavy work.
We saw some hobaras, also a bird called getah, smaller than a partridge, something like a ptarmigan, with its summer feathers, and head shaped like a quail. The Bey sent two live ones to R., besides a couple of large jerboahs of this part, called here, _gundy_. They are much like the guinea-pig, but of a sandy colour, and very soft and fine, like a young hare. The jerboahs in the neighbourhood of Tunis are certainly more like the rat. The other day, near the south-west gates, we fell in with a whole colony of them–which, however, were the lesser animal, or Jerd species–who occupied an entire eminence to themselves, the sovereignty of which seemed to have been conceded to them by the Bey of Tunis. They looked upon us as intruders, and came very near to us, as if asking us why we had the audacity to disturb the tranquillity of their republic. The ground here in many places was covered with a substance like the rime of a frosty morning; it tastes like salt, and from it they get nitre. Captain B. thinks it was salt. The water which we drank was brought from Ghafsa: the Bey drinks water brought from Tunis. We marched across a vast plain, covered with the salt just mentioned, which was congealed in shining heaps around bushes or tufts of grass, and among which also scampered a few hares. We encamped at a place called Ghorbatah. Close to the camp was a small shallow stream, on each side of which grew many canes; we bathed in the stream, and felt much refreshed. The evening was pleasantly cool, like a summer evening in England, and reminded us of the dear land of our birth. Numerous plains in North Africa are covered with saline and nitrous efflorescence; to the presence of these minerals is owing the inexhaustible fertility of the soil, which hardly ever receives any manure, only a little stubble being occasionally burnt.
We saw flights of the getah, and of another bird called the gedur, nearly the same, but rather lighter in colour. When they rise from the ground, they make a curious noise, something like a partridge. We were unusually surprised by a flight of locusts, not unlike grasshoppers, of about two inches long, and of a reddish colour. Saw also gazelles. Halted by the dry bed of a river, called Furfouwy. A pool supplied the camp: in the mountains, at a distance, there was, however, a delicious spring, a stream of liquid pearls in these thirsty lands! A bird called mokha appeared now and then; it is about the size of a nightingale, and of a white light-brown colour. We seldom heard such sweet notes as this bird possesses. Its flying is beautifully novel and curious; it runs on the ground, and now and then stops and rises about fifteen feet from the surface, giving, as it ascends, two or three short slow whistles, when it opens its graceful tail and darts down to the ground, uttering another series of melodious whistles, but much quicker than when it rises.
We continued our march over nearly the same sort of country, but all was now flat as far as the eye could see, the hills being left behind us. About eight miles from Furfouwy, we came to a large patch of date-trees, watered by many springs, but all of them hot. Under the grateful shade of the lofty palm were flowers and fruits in commingled sweetness and beauty. Here was the village of Dra-el-Hammah, surrounded, like all the towns of the Jereed, with date-groves and gardens. The houses were most humbly built of mud and bricks. After a scorching march, we encamped just beyond, having made only ten miles. Saw quantities of bright soft spar, called talc. Here also the ground was covered with a saline effloresence. Near us were put up about a dozen blue cranes, the only birds seen to-day. A gazelle was caught, and others chased. We particularly observed huge patches of ground covered with salt, which, at a distance, appeared just like water.
CHAPTER X.
Toser.–The Bey’s Palace.–Blue Doves.–The town described.–Industry of the People.–Sheikh Tahid imprisoned and punished.–Leghorn.–The Boo-habeeba.–A Domestic Picture.–The Bey’s Diversions.–The Bastinado.– Concealed Treasure.–Nefta.–The Two Saints.–Departure of Santa Maria.– Snake-charmers.–Wedyen.–Deer Stalking.–Splendid view of the Sahara.– Revolting Acts.–Qhortabah.–Ghafsa.–Byrlafee.–Mortality among the Camels–Aqueduct.–Remains of Udina.–Arrival at Tunis.–The Boab’s Wives.–Curiosities.–Tribute Collected.–Author takes leave of the Governor of Mogador, and embarks for England.–Rough Weather.–Arrival in London.
Leaving Dra-el-Hammah, after a hot march of five or six miles, we arrived at the top of a rising ground, at the base of which was situate the famous Toser, the head-quarters of the camp in the Jereed, and as far as it goes. Behind the city was a forest of date-trees, and beyond these and all around, as far as the eye could wander, was an immeasurable waste–an ocean of sand–a great part of which we could have sworn was water, unless told to the contrary. We were met, before entering Toser, with some five or six hundred Arabs, who galloped before the Bey, and fired as usual. The people stared at us Christians with open mouths; our dress apparently astonished them. At Toser, the Bey left his tent and entered his palace, so called in courtesy to his Highness, but a large barn of a house, without any pretensions. We had also a room allotted to us in this palace, which was the best to be found in the town, though a small dark affair. Toser is a miserable assemblage of mud and brick huts, of very small dimensions, the beams and the doors being all of date-wood. The gardens, however, under the date-trees are beautiful, and abundantly watered with copious streams, all of which are warm, and in one of which we bathed ourselves and felt new vigour run through our veins. We took a walk in the gardens, and were surprised at the quantities of doves fluttering among the date-trees; they were the common blue or Barbary doves. In the environs of Mogador, these doves are the principal birds shot.
Toser, or Touzer, the _Tisurus_ of ancient geography, is a considerable town of about six thousand souls, with several villages in its neighbourhood.
The impression of Toser made upon our tourists agrees with that of the traveller, Desfontaines, who writes of it in 1784:–“The Bey pitched his tent on the right side of the city, if such can be called a mass of _mud-houses_.” The description corresponds also with that of Dr. Shaw, who says that “the villages of the Jereed are built of mud-walls and rafters of palm-trees.” Evidently, however, some improvement has been made of late years. The Arabs of Toser, on the contrary, and which very natural, protested to the French scientific commission that Toser was the finest city in El-Jereed. They pretend that it has an area as large as Algiers, surrounded with a mud wall, twelve or fifteen feet high, and crenated. In the centre is a vast open space, which serves for a market-place. Toser has mosques, schools, Moorish baths–a luxury rare on the confines of the Desert, fondouks or inns, &c. The houses have flat terraces, and are generally well-constructed, the greater part built from the ruins of a Roman town; but many are now dilapidated from the common superstitious cause of not repairing or rebuilding old houses. The choice material for building is brick, mostly unbaked or sun-dried.
Most of these houses stand detached.
Toser, situate in a plain, is commanded from the north-west by a little rocky mountain, whence an abundant spring takes its source, called _Meshra_, running along the walls of the city southward, divides itself afterwards in three branches, waters the gardens, and, after having irrigated the plantations of several other villages, loses itself in the sand at a short distance. The wells within the city of Toser are insufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants, who fetch water from Wad Meshra. The neighbouring villages are Belad-el-Ader, Zin, Abbus; and the sacred villages are Zaouweeat, of Tounseea, Sidi Ali Bou Lifu, and Taliraouee. The Arabs of the open country, and who deposit their grain in and trade with these villages, are Oulad Sidi Sheikh, Oulad Sidi Abeed, and Hammania. The dates of Toser are esteemed of the finest quality.
Walked about the town; several of the inhabitants are very wealthy. The dead saints are, however, here, and perhaps everywhere else in Tunis, more decently lodged, and their marabets are real “whitewashed sepulchres.” They make many burnouses at Toser, and every house presents the industrious sight of the needle or shuttle quickly moving. We tasted the leghma, or “tears of the date,” for the first time, and rather liked it. On going to shoot doves, we, to our astonishment, put up a snipe. The weather was very hot; went to shoot doves in the cool of the evening. The Bey administers justice, morning and evening, whilst in the Jereed. An Arab made a present of a fine young ostrich to the Bey, which his Highness, after his arrival in Tunis, sent to R. The great man here is the Sheikh Tahid, who was imprisoned for not having the tribute ready for the Bey. The tax imposed is equivalent to two bunches for each date-tree. The Sheikh has to collect them, paying a certain yearly sum when the Bey arrives, a species of farming-out. It was said that he is very rich, and could well find the money. The dates are almost the only food here, and the streets are literally gravelled with their stones. Santa Maria again returned his horse to the Bey, and got another in its stead. He is certainly a man of _delicate_ feeling. This gentleman carried his impudence so far that he even threatened some of the Bey’s officers with the supreme wrath of the French Government, unless they attended better to his orders. A new Sheikh was installed, a good thing for the Bey’s officers, as many of them got presents on the occasion.
We blessed our stars that a roof was over our heads to shield us from the burning sun. We blew an ostrich-egg, had the contents cooked, and found it very good eating. They are sold for fourpence each, and it is pretended that one makes an ample meal for twelve persons. We are supplied with leghma every morning; it tastes not unlike cocoa-nut milk, but with more body and flavour. R. very unwell, attributed it to his taking copious draughts of the leghma. Rode out of an evening; there was a large encampment of Arabs outside the town, thoroughly sun-burnt, hardy-looking fellows, some of them as black as negroes. Many people in Toser have sore eyes, and several with the loss of one eye, or nearly so; opthalmia, indeed, is the most prevalent disease in all Barbary. The neighbourhood of the Desert, where the greater part of the year the air is filled with hot particles of sand, is very unfavourable to the sight; the dazzling whiteness of the whitewashed houses also greatly injures the eyes. But the Moors pretend that lime-washing is necessary to the preservation of the houses from the weather, as well as from filth of all sorts. We think really it is useful, by preventing dirty people in many cases from being eaten up by their own filth and vermin, particularly the Jews, the Tunisian Jews being the dirtiest persons in the Regency. The lime-wash is the grand _sanitary_ instrument in North Africa.
There are little birds that frequent the houses, that might be called Jereed sparrows, and which the Arabs name boo-habeeba, or “friend of my father;” but their dress and language are very different, having reddish breasts, being of a small size, and singing prettily. Shaw mentions them under the name of the Capsa-sparrow, but he is quite wrong in making them as large as the common house-sparrow. He adds: “It is all over of a lark-colour, excepting the breast, which is somewhat lighter, and shineth like that of a pigeon. The boo-habeeba has a note infinitely preferable to that of the canary, or nightingale.” He says that all attempts to preserve them alive out of the districts of the Jereed have failed. R. has brought several home from that country, which were alive whilst I was in Tunis. There are also many at the Bardo in cages, that live in this way as long as other birds.
Went to see the houses of the inhabitants: they were nearly all the same, the furniture consisting of a burnouse-loom, a couple of millstones, and a quantity of basins, plates, and dishes, hung upon the walls for effect, seldom being used; there were also some skins of grain. The beams across the rooms, which are very high, are hung with onions, dates, and pomegranates; the houses are nearly all of one story. Some of the women are pretty, with large long black eyes and lashes; they colour the lower lid black, which does not add to their beauty, though it shows the bewitching orb more fully and boldly. They were exceedingly dirty and ragged, wearing, nevertheless, a profusion of ear-rings, armlets, anclets, bracelets, and all sorts of _lets_, with a thousand talismanic charms hanging from their necks upon their ample bosoms, which latter, from the habit of not wearing stays, reach as low down as their waists. They wrap up the children in swaddling-clothes, and carry them behind their backs when they go out.
Two men were bastinadoed for stealing a horse, and not telling where they put him; every morning they were to be flogged until they divulged their hiding-place.
A man brought in about a foot of horse’s skin, on which was the Bey’s mark, for which he received another horse. This is always done when any animal dies belonging to the Beys, the man in whose hands the animal is, receiving a new one on producing the part of the skin marked. The Bey and his ministers and mamelukes amused themselves with shooting at a mark. The Bey made some good hits.
The Bey and his mamelukes also took diversion in spoiling the appearance of a very nice young horse; they daubed hieroglyphics upon his shoulders and loins, and dyed the back where the saddle is placed, and the three legs below the knee with henna, making the other leg look as white as possible. Another grey horse, a very fine one, was also cribbed. We may remark here, that there were very few fine horses to be met with, all the animals looking poor and miserable, whilst these few fine ones fell into the hands of the Bey. It is probable, however, that the Arabs kept their best and most beautiful horses out of the way, while the camp was moving among them.
The old Sheikh still continued in prison. The bastinadoes with which he had been treated were inflicted on his bare person, cold water being applied thereto, which made the punishment more severe. After receiving one hundred, he said he would shew his hiding-place; and some people being sent with him, dug a hole where he pointed out, but without coming to anything. This was done several times, but with the same effect. He was then locked up in chains till the following morning. Millions of dollars lie buried by the Arabs at this moment in different parts of Barbary, especially in Morocco, perhaps the half of which will never be found, the owners of them having died before they could point out their hoarded treasures to their relatives, as but a single person is usually in the secret. Money is in this way buried by tribes, who have nothing whatever to fear from their sovereigns and their sheikhs; they do it from immemorial custom. It is for this reason the Arabs consider that under all ancient ruins heaps of money are buried, placed there by men or demons, who hold the shining hoards under their invincible spell. They cannot comprehend how European tourists can undertake such long journeys, merely for the purpose of examining old heaps of stones, and making plans and pictures of such rubbish. When any person attempts to convince the Arabs that this is the sole object, they only laugh with incredulity.
Went to Nefta, a ride of about fourteen miles, lying somewhat nearer the Sahara than Toser. The country on the right was undulating sand, on the left an apparently boundless ocean, where lies, as a vast sheet of liquid fire, when the sun shines on it, the now long celebrated Palus Libya. In this so-called lake no water is visible, except a small marsh like the one near Toser, where we went duck-shooting. Our party was very respectable, consisting of the Agha of the Arabs, two or three of the Bey’s mamelukes, the Kaed of the Jereed, whose name is Braun, and fifty or sixty Arab guards, besides ourselves. On entering Nefta, the escort immediately entered, according to custom, a marabet (that of Sidi Bou Aly), Captain B. and R. meanwhile standing outside.
There were two famous saints here, one of whom was a hundred years of age. The other, Sidi Mustapha Azouz, had the character of being a very clever and good man, which also his intelligent and benevolent appearance betokened, and not a fanatic, like Amour Abeda of Kairwan. There were at the time of our visit to him about two hundred people in his courtyard, who all subsisted on his charities. We were offered dates, kouskousou, [39] and a seed which they call sgougou, and which has the appearance of dried apple-seed. The Arabs eat it with honey, first dipping their fingers into the honey, and then into the seed, which deliciously sticks to the honey. The Sheikh’s saint also distributed beads and rosaries. He gave R. a bag of sgougou-seed, as well as some beads. These two Sheikhs are objects of most religious veneration amongst all true believers, and there is nothing which would not be done at their bidding.
Nefta, the Negeta of the ancients, is the frontier town of the Tunisian territories from the south, being five days’ journey, or about thirty-five or forty leagues from the oases of Souf, and fifteen days’ from Ghadumes. Nefta is not so much a town as an agglomeration of villages, separated from one another by gardens, and occupying an extent of surface twice the size that of the city of Algiers. These villages are Hal Guema, Mesaba, Zebda Ouled, Sherif, Beni Zeid, Beni Ali, Sherfa, and Zaouweeah Sidi Ahmed.
The position of Nefta and its environs is very picturesque. Water is here abundant. The principal source, which, under the name of Wad Nefta, takes its rise at the north of the city, in the midst of a movement of earth, enters the villages of Sherfa and Sidi Ahmed; divides them in two, and fecundates its gardens planted with orange-trees, pomegranates, and fig-trees. The same spring, by the means of ducts of earth, waters a forest of date-trees which extends some leagues. A regulator of the water (kaed-el-ma) distributes it to each proprietor of the plantation.
The houses of Nefta are built generally of brick; some with taste and luxury; the interior is ornamented with Dutch tiles brought from Tunis. Each quarter has its mosque and school, and in the centre of the group of villages is a place called Rebot, on the banks of Wad Nefta, which serves for a common market. Here are quarters specially devoted to the aristocratic landed proprietors, and others to the busy merchants. The Shereefs are the genuine nobles, or seigneurs of Nefta, from among whom the Bey is wont to choose the Governors of the city. The complexion of the population is dark, from its alliance with Negress slaves, like most towns advanced in the Desert. The manners of the people are pure. They are strict observers of the law, and very hospitable to strangers. Captain B., however, thought that, had he not been under the protection of the Bey, his head would not have been worth much in these districts. Every traveller almost forms a different opinion, and frequently the very opposite estimate, respecting the strangers amongst whom he is sojourning. A few Jewish artizans have always been tolerated here, on condition of wearing a black handkerchief round their heads, and not mount a horse, &c. Recently the Bey, however, by solemn decrees, has placed the Jews exactly on the same footing of rights and privileges as the rest of his subjects.
Nefta is the intermediate _entrepot_ of commerce which Tunis pours towards the Sahara, and for this reason is called by the Arabs, “the gate of Tunis;” but the restrictive system established by the Turks during late years at Ghadumes, has greatly damaged the trade between the Jereed and the Desert. The movement of the markets and caravans takes place at the beginning of spring, and at the end of summer. Only a portion of the inhabitants is devoted to commerce, the rich landed proprietory and the Shereefs representing the aristocracy, lead the tranquil life of nobles, the most void of care, and, perhaps, the happiest of which contemplative philosophy ever dreamed. The oasis of Nefta, indeed, is said to be the most poetic of the Desert; its gardens are delicious; its oranges and lemons sweet; its dates the finest fruit in the “land of dates.” Nearly all the women are pretty, of that beauty peculiar to the Oriental race; and the ladies who do not expose themselves to the fierce sun of the day, are as fair as Mooresses.
Santa Maria left for Ghabs, to which place there is not a correct route laid down in any chart. There are three routes, but the wells of one are only known to travellers, a knowledge which cannot be dispensed with in these dry regions. The wells of the other two routes are known to the bordering tribes alone, who, when they have taken a supply of water, cover them up with sand, previously laying a camel-skin over the well-mouth, to prevent the sand falling into the water, so that, while dying with thirst, you might be standing on a well and be none the wiser. The Frenchman has taken with him an escort of twelve men. The weather is cooler, with a great deal of wind, raising and darkening the sky with sand; even among the dategroves our eyes and noses were like so many sand-quarries.
Sheikh Tahib has been twice subjected to corporal punishment in the same way as before mentioned, with the addition of fifty, but they cannot make him bleed as they wish. He declares he has not got the money, and that he cannot pay them, though they cut him to pieces. As he has collected a great portion of the tribute of the people, one cannot much pity the lying rogue.
We were amused with the snake-charmers. These gentry are a company under the protection of their great saint Sidi Aysa, who has long gone upwards, but also is now profitably employed in helping the juggling of these snake-mountebanks. These fellows take their snakes about in small bags or boxes, which are perfectly harmless, their teeth and poison-bags being extracted. They carry them in their bosoms, put them in their mouths, stuffing a long one in of some feet in length, twist them around their arms, use them as a whip to frighten the people, in the meanwhile screaming out and crying unto their Heavenly protector for help, the bystanders devoutly joining in their prayers. The snake-charmers usually perform other tricks, such as swallowing nails and sticking an iron bar in their eyes; and they wear their hair long like women, which gives them a very wild maniacal look.
Three of the mamelukes and ourselves went to Wedyen, a town and date-wood about eight miles from Toser, to the left. The date-grove is extensive, and there are seven villages in it of the same name. We slept in the house of the Sheikh, who complained that the Frenchman, in passing that way, had allowed his escort to plunder, and actually bound the poor Sheikh, threatening him on his remonstrating. What conduct for Christians to teach these people!
One morning before daylight, we were on horseback, and _en route_ towards the hills, for the purpose of shooting loted, as they call a species of deer found here. The ground in the neighbourhood of Wedyen is tossed about like a hay-field, and volcanic looking. About four miles off we struck into the rocks, on each side of our path, rising perpendicularly in fantastic shapes. On reaching the highest ground, the view was exceedingly wild. Much of the rock appeared as if it had only just been cooled from a state of fusion; there was also a quantity of tuffo rock, similar to that in the neighbourhood of Naples. The first animal we saw was a wolf, which, standing on the sky-line of the opposite hill, looked gigantic. The deep valley between, however, prevented our nearer approach.
We soon after came on a loted, who took to his heels, turning round a mass of rock; but, soon after, he almost met as, and we had a view of him within forty yards. Several shots were fired at him without effect, and he at last made his escape, with a speed which defied all our attempts at following him. Dismounting, the Sheikh Ali, of the Arab tribe Hammama, who was with us, and who is the greatest deer-stalker in the country, preceded us a little distance to look out for deer, the marks of which were here very numerous. After a short time, an Arab brought information of a herd of some thirty, with a good many young ones; but our endeavours to have a shot at them were fruitless, though one of the Arabs got near enough to loose the dogs at them, and a greyhound was kicked over for his pains. We saw no more of them; but our want of success was not surprising, silence not being in the least attended to, and our party was far too large. The Arabs have such a horrible habit of vociferation, that it is a wonder they ever take any game at all. About the hills was scattered a great variety of aromatic plants, quantities of shells, and whole oyster-beds, looking almost as fresh as if they had been found by the sea-side.
On our return from Toser, we had an extensive view of the Sahara, an ocean as far as the eye could see, of what one would have taken his oath was water, the shores, inlets, and bays being clearly defined, but, in reality, nothing but salt scattered on the surface. Several islets were apparently breaking its watery expanse, but these also were only heaps of sand raised from the surrounding flat. The whole country, hills, plains and deserts, gave us an idea as if the materials had been thrown together for manufacture, and had never been completed. Nevertheless these savage deserts of boundless extent are as complete in their kind as the smiling meadows and fertile corn-fields of England, each being perfect in itself, necessary to the grand whole of creation, and forming an essential portion of the works of Divine Providence.
The Sheikh Tahib’s gardens were sold for 15,000 piastres, his wife also added to this 1,000, and he was set at liberty. The dates have been coming in to a great amount. There are many different kinds. The principal are:–Degalah, the most esteemed, which are very sweet and almost transparent. Captain B. preferred the Trungah, another first-rate sort, which are plum-shaped, and taste something like a plum. There are also the Monachah, which are larger than the other two, dryer and more mealy, and not so sweet as Degalah, and other sorts. The dates were very fine, though in no very great abundance, the superior state of ripeness being attributed to there only being a single day of rain during the past year in the Jereed. Rain is bad for the dates, but the roots of the tree cannot have too much water.
The tent-pitchers of the camp went round and performed, in mask, actions of the most revolting description, some being dressed as women, and dancing in the most lascivious and indecent manner. One fellow went up to R., who was just on the point of knocking him down, when, seeing the Treasurer of the Bey cracking his sides with laughter, he allowed the brute to go off under such high patronage. It was even said that these fellows were patronized by his Highness. But, on all Moorish feastdays, lascivious actions of men and women are an indispensable part of their entertainment. This is the worst side of the character of the Moors. The Moorish women were never so profligate as since the arrival of the French in Algeria.
One of the greatest chiefs, Sultan Kaed, of the Hammama has just died. He was an extremely old man, and it is certain that people live to a good old age in this burning clime. During his life, he had often distinguished himself, and lastly against the French, before Constantina. Whilst in the hills one day, we came suddenly upon a set of Arabs, about nine in number, who took to their heels on seeing us. A man has just been killed near this place, probably by the same gang. For robbery and murder, no hills could be better fitted, the passes being so intricate, and the winds and turns so sudden and sharp. The Sheikh Ali brought in two loteds, a female and its young one, which he had shot. The head of the loted is like a deer’s, but the eye is further up: it is about a fallowdeer’s size. The female has not the beard like a goat, but long hair, reaching from the head to the bottom of the chest, and over the fore-legs. These loteds were taken in consequence of an order from the Bey, that they should not return without some.
On our march back to Tunis, we encamped for two days by the foot of a range of hills at Sheesheeah, about ten miles off. The water, brought from some distance, was bad and salt.
We proceeded to Ghortabah, our old place. Two of the prisoners (about twelve of whom we had with us), and one of the Turks, died from the excessive heat. The two couriers that were sent with despatches for the Government were attacked near this place by the Arabs, and the horse of one was so injured, that it was necessary to kill him; the man who rode the horse was also shot through the leg. This was probably in revenge for the exactions of the Bey of the Camp on the tribes.
On our return to Ghafsa, we had rain, hail, and high wind, and exceedingly cold–a Siberian winter’s day on the verge of the scorching desert. The ground, where there was clay, very slippery; the camels reeled about as if intoxicated. The consequence was, it was long before the tents came up, and we endured much from this sudden change of the weather. Our sufferings were, however, nothing as compared to others, for during the day, ten men were brought in dead, from the cold (three died four days before from heat), principally Turks; and, had there been no change in the temperature, we cannot tell how many would have shared the same fate. Many of the camels, struggling against the clayey soil, could not come up.
Eight more men were shortly buried, and three were missing. The sudden transition from the intense heat of the one day to the freezing cold of the next, probably gave the latter a treble power, producing these disastrous effects, the poor people being sadly ill-clad, and quite unprepared for such extreme rigour. Besides, on our arrival at the camp, all the money in Europe could not have purchased us the required comforts, or rather necessaries, to preserve our health. Cold makes everybody very selfish. We were exceedingly touched on hearing of the death of a little girl, whom we saw driven out of a kitchen, in which the poor helpless little thing had taken refuge from the inclemency of the weather.
Santa Maria arrived from Ghabs without accident, having scarcely seen a soul the whole of the way. He certainly was an enterprizing fellow, worthy of imitation. He calculated the distance from Ghabs to Toser at 200 miles. There are a number of towns in the districts of Ghabs better built than those of Nefta and Toser; Ghabs river is also full of water and the soil of the country is very fertile. The dates are not so good as those of the Jereed. Ghabs is about 130 miles from Ghafsa. We here took our farewell of Santa Maria; he went to Beja, the head-quarters of the summer-camp: thence, of course, he would proceed to Algiers, to give an account of his _espionage_. Next season, he said, he would go to Tripoli and Ghadames; he had been many years in North Africa, and spoke Arabic fluently.
We next marched to Byrlafee, about twenty miles, and ninety-one from Toser, where there are the ruins of an old town. The weather continued cold and most wintry. Here is a very ancient well still in use. Fragments of cornices and pillars are strewn about. The foundations of houses, and some massive stone towers, which from their having a pipe up the centre, must have had something to do with regulating the water, are all that remain.
We had now much wind, but no rain. A great many camels and horses perished. Altogether, the number of camels that died on the return of the camp, was 550. The price of a camel varies from 60 to 200 piastres. Many good ones were sold at the camp for eighty piastres each, or about two pounds ten shillings, English money. A good sheep was disposed of for four or five piastres, or about three shillings. There were also some ludicrous sales. A horse in the extremities of nature, or near to the _articulo mortis_, was sold for a piastre, eight pence; a camel, in a like situation, was sold for a piastre and a half. A tolerably good horse in Tunis sells at from 800 to 1000 piastres.
There are the remains of an aqueduct at Gilma, and several other buildings, the capitals of the pillars being elaborately worked. It is seen that nearly the entire surface of Tunis is covered with remains of aqueducts, Roman, Christian, and Moorish. If railways be applied to this country–the French, are already talking about forming one from Algiers to Blidah, across the Mitidjah–unquestionably along the lines will be constructed ducts for water, which could thus be distributed over the whole country. Instead of the camels of the “Bey of the Camp” carrying water from Tunis to the Jereed, the railway would take from Zazwan, the best and most delicious water in the Regency, to the dry deserts of the Jereed, with the greatest facility. As to railways paying in this country, the resources of Tunis, if developed, could pay anything.
Marching onwards about eighteen miles, we encamped two or three beyond an old place called Sidi-Ben-Habeeba. A man murdered a woman from jealousy in the camp, but made his escape. Almost every eminence we passed was occupied with the remains of some ancient fort, or temple. There was a good deal of corn in small detached patches, but it must be remembered, the north-western provinces are the corn-districts.
In the course of the following three days, we reached Sidi-Mahammedeah, where are the magnificent remains of Udina. After about an hour’s halt, and when all the tents had been comfortably pitched, the Bey astonished us with an order to continue our march, and we pursued our way to Momakeeah, about thirty miles, which we did not reach until after dark. We passed, for some three or four hours, through a flight of locusts, the air being darkened, and the ground loaded with them. At a little distance, a flight of locusts has the appearance of a heavy snow-storm. These insects rarely visit the capital; but, since the appearance of those near Momakeeah, they have been collected in the neighbourhood of the city, cooked, and sold among the people. Momakeeah is a countryhouse belonging to the Bey, to whom, also, belongs a great portion of the land around. There is a large garden, laid out in the Italian style attached to this country-seat.
On arriving at Tunis, we called at the Bardo as we passed, and saw the guard mounting. There was rather a fine band of military music; Moorish musicians, but playing, after the European style, Italian and Moorish airs.
We must give here some account of our Boab’s domestic concerns. He boasted that he had had twenty-seven wives, his religion allowing four at once, which he had bad several times; he was himself of somewhat advanced years. According to him, if a man quarrels with his wife, he can put her in prison, but must, at the same time, support her. A certain quantity of provision is laid down by law, and he must give her two suits, or changes, of clothes a year. But he must also visit her once a week, and the day fixed is Friday. If the wife wishes to be separated, and to return to her parents, she must first pay the money which he may demand, and must also have his permission, although he himself may send her to her parents whenever he chooses, without assigning any reason. He retains the children, and he may marry again. The woman is generally expected to bring her husband a considerable sum in the way of dowry, but, on separation, she gets nothing back. This was the Boab’s account, but I think he has overdone the harshness and injustice of the Mohammedan law of marriage in relating it to our tourists. It may be observed that the strict law is rarely acted upon, and many respectable Moors have told me that they have but one wife, and find that quite enough. It is true that many Moors, especially learned men, divorce their wives when they get old, feeling the women an embarrassment to them, and no wonder, when we consider these poor creatures have no education, and, in their old age, neither afford connubial pleasure nor society to their husbands. With respect to divorce, a woman can demand by law and right to be separated from her husband, or divorced, whenever he ill-treats her, or estranges himself from her. Eunuchs, who have the charge of the women, are allowed to marry, although they cannot have any family. The chief eunuch of the Bardo has the most revolting countenance.
Our tourists brought home a variety of curious Jereed things: small date-baskets full of dates, woollen articles, skins of all sorts, and a few live animals. Sidi Mohammed also made them many handsome presents. Some deer, Jereed goats, an ostrich, &c., were sent to Mr. R. after his return, and both Captain B. and Mr. R. have had every reason to be extremely gratified with the hospitality and kind attentions of the “Bey of the Camp.”
It is very difficult to ascertain the amount of tribute collected in the Jereed, some of which, however, was not got in, owing to various impediments. Our tourists say generally:–
Camel-loads. [40]
Money, dollars, and piastres, (chiefly I imagine, the latter.) 23
Burnouses, blankets, and quilts, &c. 6
Dates (these were collected at Toser, and brought from Nefta and the surrounding districts) 500
—-
Total 529
It is impossible, with this statement before us, to make out any exact
calculation of the amount of tribute. A cantar of dates varies from fifteen
to twenty-five shillings, say on an average a pound sterling; this will
make the amount of the 500 camel-loads at five cantars per load L2,500
Six camel-loads of woollen manufactures, &c., at sixty pound per load, value 360 ——
Total L2,860
The money, chiefly piastres, must be left to conjecture. However, Mr. Levy, a large merchant at Tunis, thinks the amount might be from 150 to 200,000 piastres, or, taking the largest sum, L6,250 sterling:
Total amount of the tribute of the Jereed: in goods L2,860
Ditto, in money: 6,250 ——
Total L9,110
To this sum may be added the smaller presents of horses, camels, and other beasts of burden.
* * * * *
Before leaving Mogador, in company with Mr. Willshire, I saw his Excellency, the Governor again, when I took formal leave of him. He accompanied me down to the port with several of the authorities, waiting until I embarked for the Renshaw schooner. Several of the Consuls, and nearly all the Europeans, were also present. On the whole, I was satisfied with the civilities of the Moorish authorities, and offer my cordial thanks to the Europeans of Mogador for their attentions during my residence in that city.
A little circumstance shews the subjection of our merchants, the Consul not excepted, to the Moorish Government. One of the merchants wished to accompany me on board, but was not permitted, on account of his engagements with the Sultan.
A merchant cannot even go off the harbour to superintend the stowing of his goods. Never were prisoners of war, or political offenders, so closely watched as the boasted imperial merchants of this city.
After setting sail, we were soon out of sight of Mogador; and, on the following day, land disappeared altogether. During the next month, we were at sea, and out of view of the shore. I find an entry in my journal, when off the Isle of Wight. We had had most tremendous weather, successive gales of foul wind, from north and north-east. Our schooner was a beautiful vessel, a fine sailer with a flat bottom, drawing little water, made purposely for Barbary ports. She had her bows completely under water, and pitched her way for twenty-five succeeding days, through huge rising waves of sea and foam. During the whole of this time, I never got up, and lived on bread and water with a little biscuit. Captain Taylor, who was a capital seaman, and took the most accurate observations, lost all patience, and, though a good methodist, would now and then rush on deck, and swear at the perverse gale and wrathful sea. We took on board a fine barb for Mr. Elton, which died after a few days at sea, in these tempests. I had a young vulture that died a day before the horse, or we should have fed him on the carcase.
[Illustration]
An aoudad which we conveyed on account of Mr. Willshire to London, for the Zoological Society, outlived these violent gales, and was safely and comfortably lodged in the Regent’s Park. After my return from Africa, I paid my brave and hardy fellow-passenger a visit, and find the air of smoky London agrees with him as well as the cloudless region of the Morocco Desert.
APPENDIX.
The following account of the bombardment of Mogador by the French, written at the period by an English Resident may be of interest at the present time.
Mogador was bombarded on the 13th of August, 1844. Hostilities began at 9 o’clock A.M., by the Moors firing twenty-one guns before the French had taken up their position, but the fire was not returned until 2 P.M. The ‘Gemappes,’ 100; ‘Suffren,’ 99; ‘Triton,’ 80; ships of the line. ‘Belle Poule,’ 60, frigate; ‘Asmodee’ and ‘Pluton,’ steamers, and some brigs, constituted the bombarding squadron. The batteries were silenced, and the Moorish authorities with many of the inhabitants fled, leaving the city unprotected against the wild tribes, who this evening and the next morning, sacked and fired the city. On the 16th, nine hundred French were landed on the isle of Mogador. After a rude encounter with the garrison, they took possession of it and its forts. Their loss was, after twenty-eight hours’ bombarding, trifling, some twenty killed and as many more wounded; the Moors lost some five hundred on the isle killed, besides the casualties in the city.
The British Consul and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, with others, were obliged to remain in the town during the bombardment on account of their liabilities to the Emperor. The escape of these people from destruction was most miraculous.
The bombarding squadron reached on the 10th, the English frigate, ‘Warspite,’ on the 13th, and the wind blowing strong from N.E., and preventing the commencement of hostilities, afforded opportunity to save, if possible, the British Consul’s family and other detained Europeans; but, notwithstanding the strenuous remonstrances of the captain of the ‘Warspite’, nothing whatever could prevail upon the Moorish Deputy-Governor in command, Sidi Abdallah Deleero, to allow the British and other Europeans to take their departure. The Governor even peremptorily refused permission for the wife of the Consul to leave, upon the cruel sophism that, “The Christian religion asserts the husband and wife to be one, consequently,” added the Governor, “as it is my duty, which I owe to my Emperor, to prevent the Consul from leaving Mogador, I must also keep his wife.”
The fact is the Moors, in their stupidity, and perhaps in their revenge, thought the retaining of the British Consul and the Europeans might, in some way or other, contribute to the defence of themselves, save the city, or mitigate the havoc of the bombardment. At any rate, they would say, “Let the Christians share the same fate and dangers as ourselves.” During the bombardment, the Moors for two hours fought well, but their best gunner, a Spanish renegade, Omar Ei-Haj, being killed, they became dispirited and abandoned the batteries. The Governor and his troops, about sunset, disgracefully and precipitately fled, followed by nearly all the Moorish population, thereby abandoning Mogador to pillage, and the European Jews to the merciless wild tribes, who, though levied to defend the town, had, for some hours past, hovered round it like droves of famished wolves.
As the Governor fled out, terrified as much at the wild tribes as of the French, in rushed these hordes, led on by their desperate chiefs. These wretches undismayed, unmoved by the terrors of the bombarding ravages around, strove and vied with each other in the committal of every act of the most unlicensed ferocity and depredation, breaking open houses, assaulting the inmates, murdering such as shewed resistance, denuding the more submissive of their clothing, abusing women–particularly in the Jewish quarter–to all which atrocities the Europeans were likewise exposed.
At the most imminent hazard of their lives, the British Consul and his wife, with a few others, escaped from these ruffians. Truly providential was their flight through streets, resounding with the most turbulent confusion and sanguinary violence. It was late when the plunderers appeared before the Consulates, where, without any ceremony, by hundreds, they fell to work, breaking open bales of goods, ransacking places for money and other treasures; and, thus unsatisfied in their rapacity, they tore and burnt all the account-books and Consular documents.
Other gangs fought over the spoil; some carrying off their booty, and others setting it on fire. It was a real pandemonium of discord and licentiousness. During the darkness, and in the midst of such scenes, it was that the Consul and his wife threaded their precarious flight through the streets, and in their way were intercepted by a marauding band, who attacked them; tore off his coat; and, seizing his wife, insisted upon denuding her, four or five daggers being raised to her throat, expecting to find money concealed about their persons; nor would the ruffians desist until they ascertained they had none, the Consul having prudently resolved to take no money with them. Fortunately, at this juncture, his wife was able to speak, and in Arabic (being born here, and daughter of a former Consul), therefore she could give force to her entreaties by appealing to them not to imbue their hands in the blood of their countrywomen. This had the desired effect. The chief of the party undertook to conduct them to the water-port, when, coming in contact with another party, a conflict about booty ensued, during which the Consul’s family got out of the town to a place of comparative security.
Incidents of a similar alarming nature attended the escape of Mr. Robertson, his wife, and four children; one, a baby in arms. In the crowd, Mr. Robertson, with a child in each hand, lost sight of Mrs. Robertson, with her infant and another child. Distracted by sad forebodings, poor Mr. Robertson forced his way to the water-port, but not before a savage mountainer–riding furiously by him–aimed a sabre-blow at him to cut him down; but, as the murderous arm was poised above, Mr. Robertson stooped, and, raising his arm at the time, warded it off; the miscreant then rode off, being satisfied at this cut at the detested Nazarene.
Another ruffian seized one of his little girls, a pretty child of nine years old, and scratched her arm several times with his dagger, calling out _flous_ (money) at each stroke. At the water-port, Mr. Robertson joined his fainting wife, and the British Consul and his wife, with Mr. Lucas and Mr. Allnut. An old Moor never deserted the Consul’s family, “faithful among the faithless;” and a Jewess, much attached to the family, abandoned them only to return to those allied to her by the ties of blood.
Their situation was now still perilous, for, should they be discovered by the wild Berbers, they all might be murdered. This night, the 15th, was a most anxious one, and their apprehensions were dreadful. Dawn of day was fast approaching, and every hour’s delay rendered their condition more precarious. In this emergency, Mr. Lucas, who never once failed or lost his accustomed suavity and presence of mind amidst these imminent dangers, resolved upon communicating with the fleet by a most hazardous experiment. On his way from the town-gate to the water-port, he noticed some deal planks near the beach. The idea struck him of turning these into a raft, which, supporting him, could enable their party to communicate with the squadron. Mr. Lucas fetched the planks, and resolutely set to work. Taking three of them, and luckily finding a quantity of strong grass cordage, he arranged them in the water, and with some cross-pieces, bound the whole together; and, besides, having found two small pieces of board to serve him as paddles, he gallantly launched forth alone, and, in about an hour, effected his object, for he excited the attention of the French brig, ‘Canard,’ from which a boat came and took him on board.
The officers, being assured there were no Moors on guard at the batteries, and that the Berbers were wholly occupied in plundering the city, promptly and generously sent off a boat with Mr. Lucas to the rescue of the alarmed and trembling fugitives. The Prince de Joinville afterwards ordered them to be conveyed on board the ‘Warspite.’ The self-devotedness, sagacity, and indefatigable exertions of the excellent young man, Mr. Lucas, were above all encomiums, and, at the hands of the British Government, he deserved some especial mark of favour.
Poor Mrs. Levy (an English Jewess, married to a Maroquine Jew), and her family were left behind, and accompanied the rest of the miserable Jews and natives, to be maltreated, stripped naked, and, perhaps, murdered, like many poor Jews. Mr. Amrem Elmelek, the greatest native merchant and a Jew, died from fright. Carlos Bolelli, a Roman, perished during the sack of the city.
Mogador was left a heap of ruins, scarcely one house standing entire, and all tenantless. In the fine elegiac bulletin of the bombarding Prince, “Alas! for thee, Mogador! thy walls are riddled with bullets, and thy mosques of prayer blackened with fire!” (or something like these words.)
COMMERCE WITH MOROCCO.
TANGIER.
Tangier trades almost exclusively with Gibraltar, between which place and this, an active intercourse is constantly kept up.
The principal articles of importation into Tangier are, cotton goods of all kinds, cloth, silk-stuffs, velvets, copper, iron, steel, and hardware of every description; cochineal, indigo, and other dyes; tea, coffee, sulphur, paper, planks, looking-glasses, tin, thread, glass-beads, alum, playing-cards, incense, sarsaparilla, and rum.
The exports consist in hides, wax, wool, leeches, dates, almonds, oranges, and other fruit, bark, flax, durra, chick-peas, bird-seed, oxen and sheep, henna, and other dyes, woollen sashes, haicks, Moorish slippers, poultry, eggs, flour, &c.
The value of British and foreign goods imported into Tangier in 1856 was: British goods, L101,773 6_s_., foreign goods, L33,793.
The goods exported from Tangier during the same year was: For British ports, L63,580 10_s_., for foreign ports, L13,683.
The following is a statement of the number of British and foreign ships that entered and cleared from this port during the same year. Entered: British ships 203, the united tonnage of which was 10,883; foreign ships 110, the total tonnage of which was 4,780.
Cleared: British ships 207, the united tonnage of which was 10,934; foreign ships 110, the total tonnage of which was 4,780.
Three thousand head of cattle are annually exported, at a fixed duty of five dollars per head, to Gibraltar, for the use of that garrison, in conformity with the terms of special grants that have, from time to time, been made by the present Sultan and some of his predecessors. In addition to the above, about 2,000 head are, likewise, exported annually, for the same destination, at a higher rate of duty, varying from eight dollars to ten dollars per head. Gibraltar, also, draws from this place large supplies of poultry, eggs, flour, and other kinds of provisions.
MOGADOR.
From the port of Mogador are exported the richest articles the country produces, viz., almonds, sweet and bitter gums, wool, olive-oil, seeds of various kinds, as cummin, gingelen, aniseed; sheep-skins, calf, and goat-skins, ostrich-feathers, and occasionally maize.
The amount of exports in 1855 was: For British ports, L228,112 3_s_. 2_d_., for foreign ports, L55,965 13_s_. 1_d_.
The imports are Manchester cotton goods, which have entirely superseded the East India long cloths, formerly in universal use, blue salampores, prints, sugar, tea, coffee, Buenos Ayres slides, iron, steel, spices, drugs, nails, beads and deals, woollen cloth, cotton wool, and mirrors of small value, partly for consumption in the town, but chiefly for that of the interior, from Morocco and its environs, as far as Timbuctoo.
The amount of imports in 1855 was: British goods, L136,496 7_s_. 6_d_., foreign goods L31,222 11_s_. 5_d_.
The trade last year was greatly increased by the unusually large demand for olive-oil from all parts, and there is no doubt that, under a more liberal Government, the commerce might be developed to a vast extent.
RABAT.
The principal goods imported at Rabat are, alum, calico of different qualities, cinnamon, fine cloth, army cloth, cloves, copperas, cotton prints, raw cotton, sewing cotton, cutlery, dimity, domestics, earthenware, ginger, glass, handkerchiefs (silk and cotton), hardware, indigo, iron, linen, madder root, muslin, sugar (refined and raw), tea, and tin plate.
The before-mentioned articles are imported partly for consumption in Rabat and Sallee, and partly for transmission into the interior.
The value of different articles of produce exported at Rabat during the last five years amounts to L34,860 1_s_.
There can be no doubt that the imports and exports at Rabat would greatly increase, if the present high duties were reduced, and Government monopolies abolished. Large quantities of hides were exported before they were a Government monopoly: now the quantity exported is very inconsiderable.
MAZAGAN.
_Goods Imported_.–Brown Domestics, called American White, muslins, raw cotton, cotton-bales, silk and cotton pocket-handkerchiefs; tea, coffee, sugars, iron, copperas, alum; many other articles imported, but in very small quantities.
A small portion of the importations is consumed at Mazagan and Azimore, but the major portions in the interior.
The amount of the leading goods exported in 1855 was:–Bales of wool, 6,410; almonds, 200 serons; grain, 642,930 fanegas.
No doubt the commerce of this port would be increased under better fiscal laws than those now established.
But the primary and immediate thing to be looked after is the wilful casting into the anchorage-ground of stone-ballast by foreigners. British masters are under control, but foreigners will persist, chiefly Sardinian masters.
THE END
[1] The predecessor of Muley Abd Errahman.
[2] On account, of their once possessing the throne, the Shereefs have a peculiar jealousy of Marabouts, and which latter have not forgotten their once being sovereigns of Morocco. The _Moravedi_ were “really a dynasty of priests,” as the celebrated Magi, who usurped the throne of Cyrus. The Shereefs, though descended from the Prophet, are not strictly priests, or, to make the distinction perfectly clear the Shereefs are to be considered a dynasty corresponding to the type of Melchizdek, uniting in themselves the regal and sacerdotal authority, whilst the _Marabouteen_ were a family of priests like the sons of Aaron. Abd-el-Kader unites in himself the princely and sacerdotal authority like the Shereefs, though not of the family of the Prophet. Mankind have always been jealous of mere theocratic government, and dynasties of priests have always been failures in the arts of governing, and the Egyptian priests, though they struggled hard, and were the most accomplished of this class of men, could not make themselves the sovereigns of Egypt.
[3] According to others the Sadia reigned before the Shereefs.
[4] I was greatly astonished to read in Mr. Hay’s “Western Barbary,” (p. 123), these words–“During one of the late rebellions, a beautiful young girl was offered up as a propitiatory sacrifice, her throat being cut before the tent of the Sultan, and in his presence!” This is an unmitigated libel on the Shereefian prince ruling Morocco. First of all, the sacrifice of human beings is repudiated by every class of inhabitants in Barbary. Such rites, indeed, are unheard of, nay, unthought of. If the Mahometan religion has been powerful in any one thing, it is in that of rooting out from the mind of man every notion of human sacrifice. It is this which makes the sacrifice of the Saviour such an obnoxious doctrine to Mussulmen. It is true enough, at times, oxen are immolated to God, but not to Moorish princes, “to appease an offended potentate.” One spring, when there was a great drought, the people led up to the hill of Ghamart, near Carthage, a red heifer to be slaughtered, in order to appease the displeasure of Deity; and when the Bey’s frigate, which, a short time ago, carried a present to her Britannic Majesty, from Tunis to Malta, put back by stress of weather, two sheep were sacrificed to some tutelar saints, and two guns were fired in their honour. The companions of Abd-el-Kader in a storm, during his passage from Oran to Toulon, threw handsful of salt to the raging deep to appease its wild fury. But as to sacrificing human victims, either to an incensed Deity, or to man, impiously putting himself in the place of God, the Moors of Barbary have not the least conception of such an enormity.
It would seem, unfortunately, that the practice of the gentleman, who travelled a few miles into the interior of Morocco on a horse-mission, had been to exaggerate everything, and, where effect was wanting, not to have scrupled to have recourse to unadulterated invention. But this style of writing cannot be defended on any principle, when so serious a case is brought forward as that of sacrificing a human victim to appease the wrath of an incensed sovereign, and that prince now living in amicable relations with ourselves.
[5] Graeberg de Hemso, whilst consul-general for Sweden and Sardinia (at Morocco!) concludes the genealogy of these Mussulman sovereigns with this strange, but Catholic-spirited rhapsody:–
“Muley Abd-ur-Bakliman, who is now gloriously and happily reigning, whom we pray Almighty God, all Goodness and Power, to protect and exalt by prolonging his life, glory, and reign in this world and in the next; and giving him, during eternity, the heavenly beatitude, in order that his soul, in the same manner as flame to flame, river to sea, may be united with his sweetest, most perfect and ineffable Creator. Amen.”
[6] Yezeed was half-Irish, born of the renegade widow of an Irish sergeant of the corps of Sappers and Miners, who was placed at the disposition of this government by England, and who died in Morocco. On his death, the facile, buxom widow was admitted, “nothing loath,” into the harem of Sidi-Mohammed, who boasted of having within its sacred enclosure of love and bliss, a woman from every clime.
Here the daughter of Erin brought forth this ferocious tyrant, whose maxim of carnage, and of inflicting suffering on humanity was, “My empire can never be well governed, unless a stream of blood flows from the gate of the palace to the gate of the city.” To do Yezeed justice, he followed out the instincts of his birth, and made war on all the world except the English (or Irish). Tully’s Letters on Tripoli give a graphic account of the exploits of Yezeed, who, to his inherent cruelty, added a fondness for practical (Hibernian) jokes.
His father sent him several times on a pilgrimage to Mecca to expiate his crimes, when he amused, or alarmed, all the people whose countries he passed through, by his terrific vagaries. One day he would cut off the heads of a couple of his domestics, and play at bowls with them; another day, he would ride across the path of an European, or a consul, and singe his whiskers with the discharge of a pistol-shot; another day, he would collect all the poor of a district, and gorge them with a razzia he had made on the effects of some rich over-fed Bashaw. The multitude sometimes implored heaven’s blessing on the head of Yezeed. at other times trembled for their own heads. Meanwhile, our European consuls made profound obeisance to this son of the Shereef, enthroned in the West. So the tyrant passed the innocent days of his pilgrimage. So the godless herd of mankind acquiesced in the divine rights of royalty.
[7] See Appendix at the end of this volume.
[8] The middle Western Region consists of Algiers and part of Tunis.
[9] Pliny, the Elder, confirms this tradition mentioned by Pliny. Marcus Yarron reports, “that in all Spain there are spread Iberians, Persians, Phoenicians, Celts, and Carthaginians.” (Lib. iii. chap. 2).
[10] In Latin, Mauri, Maurice, Maurici, Maurusci, and it is supposed, so called by the Greeks from their dark complexions.
[11] The more probable derivation of this word is from _bar_, signifying land, or earth, in contradistinction from the sea, or desert, beyond the cultivable lands to the South. To give the term more force it is doubled, after the style of the Semitic reduplication. De Haedo de la Captividad gives a characteristic derivation, like a genuine hidalgo, who proclaimed eternal war against Los Moros. He says–“Moors, Alartes, Cabayles, and some Turks, form all of them a dirty, lazy, inhuman, indomitable nation of beasts, and it is for this reason that, for the last few years, I have accustomed myself to call that land the land of Barbary.”
[12] Procopius, de Bello Vandilico, lib. ii. cap. 10.
[13] Some derive it from _Sarak_, an Arabic word which signifies to steal, and hence, call the conquerors thieves. Others, and with more probability, derive it from _Sharak_, the east, and make them Orientals, and others say there is an Arabic word _Saracini_, which means a pastoral people, and assert that Saracine is a corruption from it, the new Arabian immigrants being supposed to have been pastoral tribes.
[14] Some suppose that _Amayeegh_ means “great,” and the tribes thus distinguished themselves, as our neighbours are wont to do by the phrase “la grande nation.” The Shoulah are vulgarly considered to be descended from the Philistines, and to have fled before Joshua on the conquest of Palestine.
In his translation of the Description of Spain, by the Shereef El-Edris (Madrid, 1799), Don Josef Antonio Conde speaks of the Berbers in a note–
“Masmuda, one of the five principal tribes of Barbaria; the others are Zeneta, called Zenetes in our novels and histories, Sanhagha which we name Zenagas; Gomesa is spelt in our histories Gomares and Gomeles. Huroara, some of these were originally from Arabia; there were others, but not so distinguished. La de Ketama was, according to tradition, African, one of the most ancient, for having come with Afrikio.
“Ben Kis Ben Taifi Ben Teba, the younger, who came from the king of the Assyrians, to the land of the west.
“None of these primitive tribes appear to have been known to the Romans, their historians, however, have transmitted to us many names of other aboriginal tribes, some of which resemble fractions now existing, as the Getules are probably the present Geudala or Geuzoula. But the present Berbers do not correspond with the names of the five original people just mentioned. In Morocco, there are Amayeegh and Shelouh, in Algeria the Kabyles, in Tunis the Aoures, sometimes the Shouwiah, and in Sahara the Touarichs. There are, besides, numerous subdivisions and admixtures of these tribes.”
[15] Monsieur Balbi is decidedly the most recent, as well as the best authority to apply to for a short and definite description of this most celebrated mountain system, called by him “Systeme Atlantique,” and I shall therefore annex what he says on this interesting subject, “Orographie.” He says–“Of the ‘Systeme Atlantique,’ which derives its name from the Mount Atlas, renowned for so many centuries, and still so little known; we include in this vast system, all the heights of the region of Maghreb–we mean the mountain of the Barbary States–as well as the elevations scattered in the immense Sahara or Desert. It appears that the most important ridge extends from the neighbourhood of Cape Noun, or the Atlantic, as far as the east of the Great Syrte in the State of Tripoli. In this vast space it crosses the new State of Sidi-Hesdham, the Empire of Morocco, the former State of Algiers, as well as the State of Tripoli and the Regency of Tunis. It is in the Empire of Morocco, and especially in the east of the town of Morocco, and in the south-east of Fez, that that ridge presents the greatest heights of the whole system. It goes on diminishing afterwards in height as it extends towards the east, so that it appears the summits of the territory of Algiers are higher than those on the territory of Tunis, and the latter are less high than those to be found in the State of Tripoli. Several secondary ridges diverge in different directions from the principal chain; we shall name among them the one which ends at the Strait of Gibraltar in the Empire of Morocco. Several intermediary mountains seem to connect with one another the secondary chains which intersect the territories of Algiers and Tunis. Geographers call Little Atlas the secondary mountains of the land of Sous, in opposition to the name of Great Atlas, they give to the high mountains of the Empire of Morocco. In that part of the principal chain called Mount Gharian, in the south of Tripoli, several low branches branch off and under the names of Mounts Maray, Black Mount Haroudje, Mount Liberty, Mount Tiggerandoumma and others less known, furrow the great solitudes of the Desert of Lybia and Sahara Proper. From observations made on the spot by Mr. Bruguiere in the former state of Algiers, the great chain which several geographers traced beyond the Little Atlas under the name of Great Atlas does not exist. The inhabitants of Mediah who were questioned on the subject by this traveller, told him positively, that the way from that town to the Sahara was through a ground more or less elevated, and slopes more or less steep, and without having any chain of mountains to cross. The Pass of Teniah which leads from Algiers to Mediah is, therefore, included in the principal chain of that part of the Regency.
[16] Xenophon, in his Anabasis, speaks of ostriches in Mesopotamia being run down by fleet horses.
[17] Mount Atlas was called Dyris by the ancient aborigines, or Derem, its name amongst the modern aborigines. This word has been compared to the Hebrew, signifying the place or aspect of the sun at noon-day, as if Mount Atlas was the back of the world, or the cultivated parts of the globe, and over which the sun was seen at full noon, in all his fierce and glorious splendour. Bochart connects the term with the Hebrew meaning ‘great’ or ‘mighty,’ which epithet would be naturally applied to the Atlas, and all mountains, by either a savage or civilized people. We have, also, on the northern coast, Russadirum, the name given by the Moors to Cape Bon, which is evidently a compound of _Ras_, head, and _dirum_, mountain, or the head of the mountain.
We have again the root of this word in Doa-el-Hamman, Tibet Deera, &c., the names of separate chains of the mighty Atlas. Any way, the modern Der-en is seen to be the same with the ancient Dir-is.
[18] The only way of obtaining any information at all, is through the registers of taxation; and, to the despotism and exactions of these and most governments, we owe a knowledge of the proximate amount of the numbers of mankind.
[19] Tangier, Mogador, Wadnoun, and Sous have already been described, wholly, or in part.
[20] In 936, Arzila was sacked by the English, and remained for twenty years uninhabited.
[21] According to Mr. Hay, a portion of the Salee Rovers seem to have finally taken refuge here. Up the river El-Kous, the Imperial squadron lay in ordinary, consisting of a corvette, two brigs, (once merchant-vessels, and which had been bought of Christians), and a schooner, with some few gun-boats, and even these two or three vessels were said to be all unfit for sea. But, when Great Britain captured the rock of Gibraltar, we, supplanting the Moors became the formidable toll-keepers of the Herculean Straits, and the Salee rivers have ever since been in our power. If the Shereefs have levied war or tribute on European navies since that periods it has been under our tacit sanction. The opinion of Nelson is not the less true, that, should England engage in war with any maritime State of Europe, Morocco must be our warm and active friend or enemy, and, if our enemy, we must again possess ourselves of our old garrison of Tangier.
[22] So called, it is supposed, from the quantity of aniseed grown in the neighbourhood.
[23] Near Cape Blanco is the ruined town of Tit or Tet, supposed to be of Carthaginian origin, and once also possessed by the Portuguese, when commerce therein flourished.
[24] El-Kesar is a very common name of a fortified town, and is usually written by the Spaniards Alcazar, being the name of the celebrated royal palace at Seville.
[25] Marmol makes this city to have succeeded the ancient Roman town of Silda or Gilda. Mequinez has been called Ez-Zetounah, from the immense quantities of olives in its immediate vicinity.
[26] Don J. A. Conde says–“Fes or sea Fez, the capital of the realm of that name; the fables of its origin, and the grandeur of the Moors, who always speak of their cities as foundations of heroes, or lords of the whole world, &c., a foible of which our historians are guilty. Nasir-Eddin and the same Ullug Beig say, for certain, that Fez is the court of the king in the west. I must observe here, that nothing is less authentic than the opinions given by Casiri in his Library of the Escurial, that by the word Algarb, they always mean the west of Spain, and by the word Almagreb, the west of Africa; one of these appellations is generally used for the other. The same Casiri says, with regard to Fez, that it was founded by Edno Ben Abdallah, under the reign of Almansor Abu Giafar; he is quite satisfied with that assertion, but does not perceive that it contains a glaring anachronism. Fez was already a very ancient city before the Mohammed Anuabi of the Mussulmen, and Joseph, in his A. J., mentions a city of Mauritania; the prophet Nahum speaks of it also, when he addresses Ninive, he presents it as an example for No Ammon. He enumerates its districts and cities, and says, Fut and Lubim, Fez and Lybia, &c.
[27] I imagine we shall never know the truth of this until the French march an army into Fez, and sack the library.
[28] It is true enough what the governor says about _quietness_, but the novelty of the mission turned the heads of the people, and made a great noise among them. The slave-dealers of Sous vowed vengeance against me, and threatened to “rip open my bowels” if I went down there.
[29] The Sultan’s Minister, Ben Oris, addressing our government on the question says, “Whosoever sets any person free God will set his soul free from the fire,” (hell), quoting the Koran.
[30] A person going to the Emperor without a present, is like a menace at court, for a present corresponds to our “good morning.”
[31] _Bash_, means chief, as Bash-Mameluke, chief of the Mamelukes. It is a Turkish term.
[32] This office answers vulgarly to our _Boots_ at English inns.
[33] Bismilla, Arabic for “In the name of God!” the Mohammedan grace before meat, and also drink.
[34] Shaw says.–“The hobara is of the bigness of a capon, it feeds upon the little grubs or insects, and frequents the confines of the Desert. The body is of a light dun or yellowish colour, and marked over with little brown touches, whilst the larger feathers of the wing are black, with each of them a white spot near the middle; those of the neck are whitish with black streaks, and are long and erected when the bird is attacked. The bill is flat like the starling’s, nearly an inch and a half long, and the legs agree in shape and in the want of the hinder toe with the bustard’s, but it is not, as Golins says, the bustard, that bird being twice as big as the hobara. Nothing can be more entertaining than to see this bird pursued by the hawk, and what a variety of flights and stratagems it makes use of to escape.” The French call the hobara, a little bustard, _poule de Carthage_, or Carthage-fowl. They are frequently sold in the market of Tunis, as ordinary fowls, but eat something like pheasant, and their flesh is red.
[35] The most grandly beautiful view in Tunis is that from the Belvidere, about a mile north-west from the capital, looking immediately over the Marsa road. Here, on a hill of very moderate elevation, you have the most beautiful as well as the most magnificent panoramic view of sea and lake, mountain and plain, town and village, in the whole Regency, or perhaps in any other part of North Africa. There are besides many lovely walks around the capital, particularly among and around the craggy heights of the south-east. But these are little frequented by the European residents, the women especially, who are so stay-at-homeative that the greater part of them never walked round the suburbs once in their lives. Europeans generally prefer the Marina, lined on each side, not with pleasant trees, but dead animals, sending forth a most offensive smell.
[36] Shaw says: “The rhaad, or safsaf, is a granivorous and gregarious bird, which wanteth the hinder toe. There are two species, and both about and a little larger than the ordinary pullet. The belly of both is white, back and wings of a buff colour spotted with brown, tail lighter and marked all along with black transverse streaks, beak and legs stronger than the partridge. The name rhaad, “thunder,” is given to it from the noise it makes on the ground when it rises, safsaf, from its beating the air, a sound imitating the motion.”
[37] Ghafsa, whose name Bochart derives from the Hebrew “comprimere,” is an ancient city, claiming as its august founder, the Libyan Hercules. It was one of the principal towns in the dominions of Jugurtha, and well-fortified, rendered secure by being placed in the midst of immense deserts, fabled to have been inhabited solely by snakes and serpents. Marius took it by a _coup-de-main_, and put all the inhabitants to the sword. The modern city is built on a gentle eminence, between two arid mountains, and, in a great part, with the materials of the ancient one. Ghafsa has no wall of _euceinte_, or rather a ruined wall surrounds it, and is defended by a kasbah, containing a small garrison. This place may be called the gate of the Tunisian Sahara; it is the limit of Blad-el-Jereed; the sands begin now to disappear, and the land becomes better, and more suited to the cultivation of corn. Three villages are situated in the environs, Sala, El-Kesir, and El-Ghetar. A fraction of the tribe of Hammand deposit their grain in Ghafsa. This town is famous for its manufactories of baraeans and blankets ornamented with pretty coloured flowers. There is also a nitre and powder-manufactory, the former obtained from the earth by a very rude process.
The environs are beautifully laid out in plantations of the fig, the pomegranate, and the orange, and especially the datepalm, and the olive-tree. The oil made here is of peculiarly good quality, and is exported to Tugurt, and other oases of the Desert.
[38] Kaemtz’s Meteorology, p. 191.
[39] This is the national dish of Barbary, and is a preparation of wheat-flour granulated, boiled by the steam of meat. It is most nutritive, and is eaten with or without meat and vegetables. When the grains are large, it is called hamza.
[40] A camel-load is about five cantars, and a cantar is a hundred weight.
[Transcriber’s Note: In this electronic edition, the footnotes were numbered and relocated to the end of the work. In ch. 3, “Mogrel-el-Aska” was corrected to “Mogrel-el-Aksa”; in ch. 4, “lattely” to “lately”; in ch. 7, “book” to “brook”; in ch. 9, “cirumstances” to “circumstances”. Also, “Amabasis” was corrected to “Anabasis” in footnote 16.]