Tangier,
8th August, 1801.
Dear sir,
My journey to meet His Excellency James M. Matra, the British
ambassador to the Court of Marocco, was undertaken principally to
obtain permission to ship a large quantity of wool which I had in
my possession, the exportation of which had been recently
prohibited. I thought I could not select a more seasonable time
than when our ambassador was at court; accordingly, I started from
Mogodor (the morning after I dispatched two vessels for Europe) on
the 4th June last, at four o'clock, P.M. My journey was first to
Rabat; thence, across the country, to Fas and Mequinas; thence to
the renowned and revered sanctuary of Muley Dris Zerone, on the
declivity of the mountains of Atlas, east of Mequinas; thence to
_Kassar Farawan_ (the ruins of Pharaoh), and through the warlike
107 province of the Ait Amor, to L'Araich, Arzilla, and to Tangier.
I took with me two of the finest horses in the country, to ride
alternately. Two mules and three camels carried my baggage, tents,
&c. Muhamed of Diabet, commonly called _Deeb_, I engaged as
tent-master; this is the man that astonished Aly Bey El Abassy,
when he shot the fish in the river, as recorded by that interesting
traveller. I engaged a most excellent fellow as cook, a man who had
performed many journies in a similar capacity with the princes; he
was acquainted with the roads, the country, and the character of
the people; the camel-drivers and muleteers completed our party.
We arrived at Tela at nine o'clock in the evening, being a journey
of five hours. We remained at Tela the whole of the following day,
and started on the 6th June at seven o'clock; arrived, at ten
o'clock, at Akkermute, a town in ruins, in the plains west of
_Jebbel El Heddeed_ (the iron mountains), which was depopulated by
the plague about fifty years since. Passing through the plains of
Akkermute, towards the river Tensift, we saw a party of Arabs
hunting partridges; we did not stop to see this novel sport, but I
was informed that the dogs were directed by the huntsmen to the
spot where the birds settled, which roused them; they then pursued
them again, and after rousing them several times without
intermission, the birds become fatigued and exhausted by continual
108 flying, and the dogs then run them down and seize on them. In six
hours from Akkermute, at four o'clock, P.M., we reached the river
Tensift, which brings its water from the Atlas, east of Marocco,
meandering through the plains and passing about three miles north
of that city.
We pitched our tents under the walls of the (_Luksebba_) castle, on
the south bank of the river.
We started the next morning at six o'clock, and travelling through
a fine country, we came to a narrow pass on the declivity of a
lofty mountain called Jerf El Eudie, a most picturesque country,
and arrived at the port of Saffy at eleven o'clock. Saffy has no
harbour, but a road where ships are obliged to put to sea whenever
the south-wind blows; the town was fortified when in possession of
the Portuguese, and is situated in a declivity between two hills,
so that during the rainy season the waters come down so rapidly
that they sometimes overflow the lower apartments of the houses and
commit considerable damage. On the 8th June we started from Saffy
at nine o'clock, and arrived at the sanctuary of Seedi Cuscasoe at
five o'clock, P.M.; and proceeding on, we reached El Woladia at
nine, and pitched our tents. This place might be made a secure
harbour for the whole British navy, by blowing up a rock which
impedes the narrow passage at the entrance of a long and extensive
bay. From hence we started at half-past five o'clock in the
morning; we proceeded northwards along the coast till eleven
109 o'clock, when we reached the beautiful and abundant valley, the
Woolga; travelling on through the country, leaving the sea to the
left, we arrived at six o'clock at the Douar, (an encampment of
Arabs,) called _Woled Aisah, i.e._ "Sons of Jesus," situated in the
productive province of Duquella. The environs of the Douar of Woled
Aisah abound in plantations of tobacco, of a superior quality,
equal to the Havannah. The next morning, viz. on the 10th June, we
struck our tents at six o'clock, and travelling three hours we
arrived, at nine, at the _Jerf el Saffer_ (the Yellow Cliff): three
hours more brought us to Tet, and an hour more to Mazagan, which we
reached at one o'clock. Mazagan is the Portuguese name; the Moorish
name is El Burreja. This is a very strong place, having several
stout bastions; there is a magnificent (_mitfere_) cistern of
water, built by the Portuguese, supported by many pillars of great
strength of the Tuscan order. The water in the neighbourhood of
Mazagan is very salubrious; this country is full of springs. The
inhabitants have a good healthy colour, very different from the
inhabitants of the plains of the province of Duquella, which being
supplied by water from wells only, of from 100 to 200 feet deep,
have a sallow and sickly appearance. It may, in Europe, appear
extraordinary that the quality of water should produce such a
manifest difference in the complexion of the inhabitants, but when
we consider that these people drink no wine, spirits, or malt
110 liquor, the paradox will immediately vanish. After viewing the
mitfere, or cistern, and batteries at Mazagan, we mounted at four
o'clock, and arrived at Azamor at seven o'clock P.M., pitched the
tents in a large spacious fondaque, or caravansera, in the centre
of the town. We were annoyed during the night by thousands of
storks, the cluttering of whose bills would not permit us to sleep.
This town is in the centre of a beautiful country. On the 11th
June, at noon, we pursued our journey, and reached Sancet Urtemma
at eight o'clock P.M. This is a dangerous country, infested with
robbers, who, from the undulating face of the country, have many
modes of escape; we, therefore, retired into a solitary retreat,
and lay on our arms, without sleep, all night. At six o'clock next
morning, being the 12th June, we started, and arrived at Dar el
Beida at twelve. Here I was hospitably entertained by the agents of
the Spanish house of the Cinquo Gremos of Madrid, who were
established here for the purpose of shipping corn to Spain. We left
Dar el Beida, at half-past three, and reached Fedalla at half-past
seven. This is a fine productive country, abounding in grain as
well as Dar el Beida. On the 13th we started at four o'clock, and
reached El Mensoria at seven; stopped and dined, mounted at ten
A.M. and arrived at Rabat at seven o'clock, P.M. after a journey
from Mogodor, of 80-1/2 hours of actual travelling, or 242 English
miles.[111]
[Footnote 111: Calculated at the rate of three miles an hour,
including stoppages and refreshments.]
111
Rabat is the largest town on the coast of the empire, it is walled
round; its circumference is about four miles; an aqueduct conveys
abundance of water to the town from a distance of several miles.
The mausoleum of the sultan Muhamed, father to the present sultan
Soliman, is in the town of Rabat, it is a neat building, surrounded
by a colonade; here is a lamp continually burning, and a
_muden_[112], who is a fakeer, is continually proclaiming the
omnipotence of God, and that Muhamed is the prophet. "_La Allah,
ila Allah, wa Muhamed rassul Allah._" There is a very strong
battery towards the sea, at the mouth of the river, which is bomb
proof. The city wall is high, and is strengthened by several
bastions mounting cannon: towards the land, about a mile from
Rabat, there is a spring, reported to have been discovered by the
Romans, and near it is the Roman town of Shella, which none but
musulmen are permitted to enter. In it are said to be the tombs of
two sultans, but most probably of Roman generals. Kettles or pans
of coins are continually found by the people who dig the ground at
this place, and the coins found are Roman. Some European travellers
enhanced the price of these coins so much, by their eagerness to
purchase them, that they offered more than double their intrinsic
112 value, so that the Jews imitated them so well that they deceived
even these antiquaries. There are several mosques in this town, but
that which attracts particularly the notice of travellers, is the
_sma Hassan, i.e._ the tower of Hassan, situated about a mile from
Shella, on the south banks of the river Buregreg, so called from
its being in the province of Beny Hassan, it is an old tower built
in a superior manner by an architect of Grenada, the same that
built the tower at Marocco, called _Jamaa Lifenar_, one at
Timbuctoo, and that at Seville; it is about 200 feet high,
perfectly square, and a person may ride up to the top on horseback,
having a gradual ascent, and seven chambers one above the other:
the cement with which it is made is so hardened that no pickaxe can
destroy it. It was represented to the sultan Muhamed that the
apartments in this tower were the haunts of vice and immorality,
and the sultan ordered the floor or terras, by which visitors
ascend, to be broken; it was found, however, impossible to destroy
it, wherefore the workmen were ordered to desist, and the entrance
was blocked up with loose stones. This tower I ascended with my
friend the Comte de Fourban, nephew to the duke de Crillon, who
conducted the famous siege of Gibraltar, and whose machinations
were so admirably defeated by the immortal governor of that
garrison, General Elliott, Lord Heathfield. The Comte had ruined
his constitution by being immolated in a dungeon in France, during
113 the reign of Robespierre, where he remained during fifteen months,
oftentimes seated on steps in water up to his ankles. The Comte was
a very generous and liberal man, an emigrant French nobleman,
protected by the British consul at the court of Morocco. The
disorder contracted by ill usage and confinement in prison, brought
on a disease which, after applying various remedies to no purpose,
carried him off, and he died at Rabat. The house of the French
consul and those of some other European consuls who formerly
resided here, are conveniently situated on the southern banks of
the river Buregreg, which divides Rabat from Salee. Ships of one
hundred tons, that do not draw much water, may pass the bar and
load close to these houses; but larger vessels must come to anchor
in the offing, and take in their cargoes by boats. The country
about Rabat and Salee is wonderfully abundant in all the finest
grain, leguminous plants, fruits, vegetables, and cattle; the
orange, lemon, Seville, or bitter orange, and citron plantations
are here very extensive and extremely productive. Several ships
might be loaded here with oranges in October and November, before
the gales of the latter half of December and the month of January
set in. One hundred fine large oranges may be had for a drahim, a
silver coin worth 6_d._ sterling. The orange plantations of Rabat
are of incalculable extent; the trees are as large as a
middling-sized oak; the vineyards and cotton plantations are
likewise most abundant; and nothing can exceed the good quality of
114 the grapes, figs, oranges, citrons, apricots, peaches, and
water-melons; the quality of the latter is peculiarly _sweet_, they
are called _Dilla Seed Billa_; the seed of which might be
advantageously transported to our new colony, the Cape of Good
Hope. The vineyards of Rabat are very extensive; the vines are
cultivated in the Arabian system, on the ground, which is a light
sandy soil: the immense numbers of turtle-doves that are in these
vineyards is such, that a bad sportsman cannot fail killing a dozen
or two at every shot; they rise just before you in thousands, and
the foulahs, or vine cultivators, express their gratitude to the
Christians who go to shoot them. These birds, from being
unmolested, are so tame and so abundant, that they destroy an
incalculable quantity of the best fruit.
[Footnote 112: The muden is the man who ascends the tower of
the Mosque and announces prayer.]
On the 14th, the Comte de Fourban accompanied me, and we crossed
the river, in the ferry, to visit Salee. The inhabitants of this
town are inimical to Christians: we viewed the subterraneous cavern
where the Sallee rovers formerly confined their Christian slaves:
it resembled a mitfere or large subterraneous granary; it had two
grates to let in the air; it appeared perfectly dry, but no one was
in it. The Comte observed that it was far preferable to the prison
where he was confined in France, during the reign or usurpation of
Robespierre. The air of Salee and Rabat, and the adjacent country,
115 is strongly perfumed, morning and evening, with the sweet odour of
the orange-flower, of which they make immense quantities of
delectable comfits.
On the morning of the 15th, we pursued our journey to Mequinas,
passing through a very fine country, inhabited by a Kabyl of
Berebbers, called Ait Zemurh. We halted, at four o'clock P.M. at a
circular Douar of these Berebbers, in a fine campaign country. The
next morning, at five o'clock, we struck the tents, and proceeded
through a dangerous country, infested by artful robbers, and the
occasional depredations of the lion and other wild beasts, whose
roaring we heard at a distance. We saw several square buildings,
which our guides informed us were built by the Berebbers, for the
purpose of destroying the lion. The patient hunter will conceal
himself in one of these buildings, which are about five feet by
seven, and will wait whole days for an opportunity to get a shot at
the lion: these noble beasts are here said to be the largest in all
Africa. After travelling this day ten hours, we pitched our tents
at another circular encampment of the Zimurite[113] Berebbers.
These people drive in stakes and place thorny bushes round their
encampment, eight feet high, and fill up the entrance every night
with thorns, as the fiercest lions of Africa abound in the adjacent
forests, and sometimes attack their habitations, accordingly they
116 keep a large fire all night to deter the lions and other wild
beasts from approaching. About two hours after midnight, my grey
horse, who was an old campaigner, neighed and awoke us; this gave
the alarm, and my people were presently on the alert, and perceived
two men approaching our tents, crawling naked along the ground,
which was of the same colour with their bodies. We did not wish to
take them, fearing that the people of the Douar would espouse the
cause of their countrymen, but my people gave the alarm, and
exclaimed "_Erd abellek asas_," i.e. "Be watchful, guards!" We then
saw these marauders jump up, and run away as fast as they could;
keeping watch the rest of the night: we were advised to take no
notice of this circumstance. The people of Ait Zimurh are professed
robbers: they would not allow us to pitch our tents _within_ their
circular encampment, a privilege universally granted to strangers
and travellers. I thought this very unhospitable; being totally
different from any thing I had ever before witnessed in this
country, where hospitality generally exceeds all bounds. I have no
doubt that the people of the Douar were in league with the robbers;
I considered my escape, the next day, when I was apprised of the
danger of the country I had confided in, quite providential, and I
have no doubt but these people would delude any one that would
trust to their honour: they reminded me of the ancient Africans, as
described by Sallust, in the wars of Jugurtha.
[Footnote 113: The Zimurites, or Ait Zimure, are probably the
descendants of the Zemarites: for which see 1 Chron. i. 16.]
117
We struck our tents at five o'clock, and travelled very fast to get
out of these treacherous habitations; for we learned that, the
preceding night, Alkaid L'Hassan Ramy, a Negro captain of the
emperor's army, passed this Douar, and was robbed of his bridles,
saddles, and tent equipage, with which the thieves made off,
without being discovered. I afterwards met Alkaid L'Hassan Ramy at
Mequinas; and he appeared quite astonished that I should have
escaped being robbed at the above Douar, calling the whole Kabyl a
set of lawless thieves. On the 17th, we started at five o'clock,
and arrived at Mequinas at nine o'clock, performing the journey
from Rabat to Mequinas in twenty-two hours, being sixty-six miles.
The city of Mequinas is the court-town of the northern division of
the empire: the imperial palace at this place is above two miles in
circumference. At the corners are erected (_Coba's_) square
buildings or pavilions, containing one room up stairs, where the
emperor frequently transacts business. This palace was built by the
sultan Muley Ismael: it is very neat, and consists for the most
part of moresque architecture; the marble columns and other
decorations were brought from (_Kasser Farawan_) the ruins of
Pharaoh, about a day's journey to the eastward. There is a superior
garden of choice fruit within the wall which surrounds the palace,
and in the latter are many elegant apartments, ornamented
_À-la-mauresque_. The ladies of Mequinas are so extremely handsome,
118 that I cannot say I saw one plain young woman, although I visited
several families; nay, I can say, without offense to truth, that I
did not see one that was not comely and handsome. I was most
hospitably entertained wherever I went. On the 18th June, at eight
o'clock A.M. we started for Fas; when we had approached the latter
city, we met a messenger, with the prince Muley Abdsalam's
secretary, from the emperor to his excellency J.M. Matra, the
British ambassador to the court of Marocco, who informed me that
his excellency had just terminated his embassy, had waited for my
arrival two days, and was on his return to Tangier. Presuming,
therefore, that the ambassador had negociated my business for me, I
turned to the north-east, travelled all day without halting, till
eight o'clock in the evening, when we arrived at the renowned
sanctuary[114] of Muley Dris Zerone, on the declivity of North
Atlas; a most magnificent, beautiful, and picturesque country,
abounding in all the necessaries and luxuries of life. This
sanctuary was never before, nor since, visited by any Christian. It
was here that the standard of Muhamed was first planted in
North-western Africa, by the fakeer and prince Muley Dris, the
founder. A favourable combination of circumstances, of which I
availed myself, enabled me to procure not only an asylum, but a
119 most hospitable and kind reception and entertainment in this
renowned sanctuary; and I actually slept in the _Horem_ or Adytum
itself, which honour I obtained by a present, appropriated to the
circumstance, and sent to the chief fakeer of the sanctuary,
accompanied with some observations expressed in a manner which was
agreeable to the holy fraternity. When I entered the _Horem_ of
this renowned sanctuary, where I slept alone, its silence reminded
me of the silence of death, which formed one of the ancient
mysteries of Egypt. The chief of the fakeers met me in the portico,
and cordially shook hands with me, calling me his brother. At this
time there was a rumour that Bonaparte was preparing to invade the
country; and indeed he had intimated as much, the English were
therefore courted; it was even hoped and expected by the emperor
that they would in such an event become his allies, and give him
succour. The next morning, I gave the fakeer some wax candles
accompanied with observations emblematical of the present, which
was so favourably received, that no less than nine saints
prostrated themselves at the place of prayer, which is at the
entrance of the town, as I passed out to pursue my journey,
uttering with audible voices a (_fâtha_) prayer of benediction,
invoking on me the protection of Almighty God, and a blessing on
the English nation; also that God would avert every danger from the
embassy, and restore them in safety to their native land. I am
120 perfectly aware that, in recording this extraordinary circumstance,
persons who have visited this country, and have remarked the
rancour that generally exists with the lower orders against
Christians, may doubt my veracity, so unprecedented a circumstance
it is for a Christian to be admitted into a _Horem_! the most
respected also and the most sacred in the empire! My answer to such
is, that the circumstance is so incredible, that I should not have
presumed to lay it before the British public, if I had not two most
respectable witnesses, _now living_ in West Barbary, who can and
will corroborate my report; these two men are Bel Hage, a Muselman,
who had been the prince's cook, and who officiated as mine during
the journey, and Muhamed, commonly called Deeb, of Diabet, a
village near Mogodor, the same man whose dexterity Aly Bey, in his
travels, alludes to, when he shot a fish in the river near Mogodor.
[Footnote 114: The town, in the centre of which stands the
sanctuary, contains about 5000 inhabitants.]
Half an hour's journey after leaving the sanctuary of Muley Dris
Zerone, and at the foot of Atlas, I perceived to the left of the
road magnificent and massive ruins; the country for miles around is
covered with broken columns of white marble, the ruins appeared to
be of the Egyptian, and massive style of architecture. There were
still standing two porticos, about thirty feet high and twelve feet
wide, the top of which was one entire stone. I attempted to take a
view of these immense ruins, which have furnished marble for the
121 imperial palaces at Mequinas and at Tafilelt; but I was obliged to
desist, seeing some persons of the sanctuary following the
cavalcade. Pots and kettles of gold and silver coins are
continually dug up from these ruins. The country, however, abounds
in serpents, and we saw many scorpions under the stones that my
conductor Deeb turned up. These ruins are said by the Africans to
have been built by one of the Pharaohs: they are called "_Kasser
Farawan_" i.e. the ruins of Pharaoh.[115] Here begins the territory
122 of the Brebber Kabyl, the Amorites or Ite-amor, said to be the
descendants of the ancient[116] Amorites, whose country was
situated east of Palestine. These people retain their ancient
warlike spirit, but they are a faithless tribe, and intolerable
thieves, unlike the other Kabyles (who are, at least, faithful to
one of their own Kabyl); but these marauders are exceedingly
mistrustful of their own brethren, so that their habitations
consist of two or three tents only, in one encampment; and even
these are sometimes at variance with each other. The lamentable
123 result of this mistrustful and marauding spirit, is wretched and
universal poverty. Their country is a succession of gentle
undulating hills, without trees or plantations of any kind. The
late sultan Muhamed used to compare the provinces or races of men
in his empire, to the nations of Europe, the English he called
warriors, the French faithless, the Spaniards quiet and
inoffensive, the Romans, i.e. the people of Italy, treacherous, the
Dutch a parsimonious and trading people; the other powers of
Europe, having no consul at Marocco, nor merchants in the country,
are known only by name: accordingly, in allusion to the warlike
spirit of the English, he would call the Ait Amor, "the English of
Barbary;" Temsena, the French; Duquella, the Spanish; Haha, the
Italians; and Suse, the Russians. When the sultan Muhamed began a
campaign, he never entered the field without the warlike Ait Amor,
who marched in the rear of the army; these people received no pay,
but were satisfied with what plunder they got after a battle; and
accordingly, this principle stimulating them, they were always
foremost on any contest, dispute, or battle. They begin the
campaign almost in a state of nudity, and seldom return to their
homes without abundance of apparel, arms, horses, camels, and
money; but this property quickly disappears, and these people are
soon again reduced to their wonted misery and nudity, and become
124 impatient for another campaign of plunder. When the present sultan,
Soliman, came from Mequinas, in the year of the plague (1799), a
division of his army passed near Mogodor, and the encampments of
the Ait Amor, or Amorites occupied the whole of the country from
the river to the Commerce Garden, a distance of three miles. It is
very probable that some other of the tribes bordering on Palestine,
may have emigrated in remote times, and may have taken their abode
on the Atlas mountains. There are above twenty (kabyls) tribes
of[117] Berebbers occupying the mountains of Atlas, as Ait-Girwan,
Zian, Ait-Ziltan, Ait-Amor, Ait-Ebeko, Ait-Kitiwa, Ait-Attar,
Ait-Amaran, and many more whose names I do not now recollect. We
travelled seven hours through the Amorite country, and pitched our
tents in the north part of the plains of Msharrah Rummellah. Fire
being lit, the Moors sat round to warm themselves, and confidently
animadverted on the prosperity that would necessarily attend our
journey, after having met with such a hospitable and favoured
reception at the renowned sanctuary before mentioned.
[Footnote 115: In reply to those learned sceptics who have
studied books; but not men, and the manners of different
countries; who believe nothing but what they have seen; and who
say that Pharaoh never came so far west; I reply, that our
knowledge of African history is extremely imperfect. In fact,
we now know as certainties, various articles of which no record
is to be found in any ancient writer; for the affairs of
Africa, which, of late, have so deservedly excited the
attention of the learned, were as little known to the ancients
as they are to the moderns; insomuch that not a word is to be
found in any ancient record or history extant, of those curious
astronomical representations, the Zodiacs, which adorn the
ceilings of the temples in _Egypt_, nor of the paintings which
cover the silent and solemn repositories of their dead. Even
the royal sepulchres, surpassing all the efforts of art
hitherto known, in brilliancy of colours and decorative
sculptures, are recorded by no historian! Neither in any
history, _known to Europe_, is there any allusion to the
Egyptian custom of placing books, i.e. rolls of manuscript, in
the mummy coffins with the bodies of the deceased. For much of
the knowledge collected respecting Africa, we are indebted to
the catacombs of Egypt, and we must not hope to know much more,
whilst our ignorance of the Arabic language is so manifest; we
must travel far out of the precincts of Greek and Latin lore,
before we shall procure correct histories of African affairs!
Our knowledge of Hebrew, in Europe I apprehend, is almost as
much confined and as imperfect as that of Arabic! By the
assistance, however, of the latter, what store of learning
might we not expect from complete Arabic translations of many
of the Greek and Latin authors, _viz._ of the _complete_ works
of Livy, Tacitus, and many others. I recollect conversing with
Abdrahaman ben Nassar, bashaw of Abda, (a gentleman deeply
versed in Arabian literature,) about the close of the last
century, who mentioned circumstances, which gave me reason to
suppose that there is extant a complete Arabic translation of
Livy as well as of Tacitus, as the bashaw assured me there was,
and that he had read them, and they were to be found in the
recondite chests of the Imperial library at Fas, in which it is
more than probable that there are many valuable transcripts in
Arabic of ancient authors, quite lost to erudite Europe! A
knowledge of the Arabic language in this country is so
indispensable, and is held in such high estimation, that every
one who does not understand it, is denominated _ajemmy_, _i.e._
barbarian or European.--St. Paul in the same spirit says, I
Corinth. ch. xiv. v. 11., "He that speaketh unintelligibly, is
unto us a barbarian."]
[Footnote 116: See Genesis, xv. 16. Deuteron. xx. 17. Judges,
i. 34.]
[Footnote 117: Some persons consider several tribes of these
Berebbers to be colonies of the ancient Phenicians.]
On the morning of the 20th June, we struck our tents at six
o'clock, and pursued our journey to L'Araich, and soon entered the
territory that belongs to the agriculturists of El Kassar Kabeer, a
125 beautiful country not unlike that of Ait-Amor in appearance, but
bearing the evidences of agricultural industry. Here we discovered
magnificent and extensive plantations of olives, immense
citron-trees, orange-groves, and spacious vineyards, peaches,
apricots, greengages, and walnuts were also the produce of this
country, besides excellent wheat of a large and long transparent
grain like amber, yielding, when ground into flour, from fifteen to
twenty per cent. increase, in quantity. Anxious now to overtake His
Excellency the ambassador, for the purpose of being present at his
entry into Tangier, we accelerated our pace, with a view of coming
up with him at L'Araich. We arrived at the forest of L'Araich at
dusk, and travelled through it all night till five o'clock next
morning.
Having travelled incessantly twenty-three hours without halting,
being much fatigued, I desired Deeb to take a little rest with me
in an adjacent field, and we sent on Bel Hage with the baggage to
L'Araich, to wait our arrival at the ferry. We pursued our journey
at seven o'clock, and entered the town at nine. On reaching the
ferry, Bel Hage introduced a courier, who had been dispatched to me
from Fas, by a friend of mine, who informed me how much he, and
many of my Moorish friends had been disappointed, that I did not
enter that city, where I understood preparations had been made for
my entertainment, in the odoriferous gardens of the merchants of
126 Fas. The courier brought me a present of gold wire and gold thread,
of the manufacture of Fas, and some gold ornaments of filligrane
work from Timbuctoo, of the manufacture of Jinnie. It is more than
probable that the Fasees learned the art of manufacturing gold
thread from the Egyptians: it is much superior to that which is
imported into Barbary from Marseilles. The ladies ornament their
cambric dresses with it, and the Fas gold-thread never loses its
colour by washing, but the French does; the Fas gold thread wears
also much better, and is more durable; the change of colour may
possibly originate from the great proportion of alloy in the gold
of the French manufacture, whereas that of Fas, according to an
imperial edict, must be of a certain fineness, approaching to pure
gold; the gold wire of which it is made being first assayed by the
(_M'tasseb_) supervisor of manufactures. Great quantities of gold
thread are used in the elegant shawls and sashes of silk and gold
made at Fas, the better kind of which are reserved for princes and
bashaws, in which they use, as before observed, the Fas thread
only. They manufacture also at Fas, a very correct imitation of
amber-beads, impossible to be discriminated by the best judges, but
by rubbing the artificial amber, and then applying it to a bit of
cotton; the latter does not adhere, but the natural amber attracts
the cotton as a magnet does iron; and this is the discriminating
criterion whereby to distinguish them.
127
But, to return to our journey, we found the ambassador had passed
the preceding day, we therefore crossed the river, and travelled on
till nine o'clock at night, when, after being a-horseback
thirty-four hours, refreshed only by two hours' sleep, we came up
with the ambassadors, Cafila, and guard, in a fine open campaign
country, half-way between Tangier and Arzilla; and soon after I
received a courier from Sir Pieter Wyk, Swedish consul-general to
the empire residing at Tangier, with a very friendly invitation to
his house and table, which being the first offer and from a sincere
and worthy friend, I with pleasure accepted it, and returned the
express immediately. On the morning of the 22d June, I breakfasted
at five o'clock with the ambassador, and, discussing with him my
business, I learned that he had terminated it to my satisfaction.
We started together at seven o'clock, and moved slowly on towards
Tangier, it having been ordered by the emperor, that the English
ambassador's entry into that town should be marked with every
possible honour and attention. An hour before we reached Tangier,
the governor, with the whole garrison, came out to salute and greet
the ambassador, the cavalry running full gallop, and firing their
muskets, as is the custom with them in all rejoicings. At half-past
eleven the cannon of Tangier began to announce the ambassador's
arrival, and continued, not a royal salute, but every gun in
Tangier was discharged; and at twelve o'clock we entered the gates.
128