[Footnote 126: The emperor's prime-minister, or _talb cadus_ at
that time.]
[Footnote 127: Dr. Broussonet, French consul. This gentleman
was intendant of the botanical garden at Montpelier: he, with
another doctor embarked for Europe just as the plague began to
appear at Mogodor in the year 1799.]
166
_Some Account of a peculiar Species of Plague which depopulated
West Barbary in 1799 and 1800, and to the Effects of which the
Author was an eye-witness._
From various circumstances and appearances, and from the character
of the epidemical distemper which raged lately in the south of
Spain, there is every reason to suppose, it was similar to that
distemper or plague which depopulated West Barbary; for, whether we
call it by the more reconcileable appellation of the epidemy, or
yellow fever, it was undoubtedly a plague, and a most destructive
one; for wherever it prevailed, it invariably carried off, in a few
months, one-half, or one-third, of the population.
It does not appear how the plague originated in Fas in the year
1799.[128] Some persons, who were there at the time it broke out,
have confidently ascribed it to infected merchandise imported into
that place from the East; whilst others, of equal veracity and
judgment, have not scrupled to ascribe it to the locusts which had
infested West Barbary during the seven preceding years, the
destruction of which was followed by the (_jedrie_) small-pox,
167 which pervaded the country, and was generally fatal. The _jedrie_
is supposed to be the forerunner of this species of epidemy, as
appears by an ancient Arabic manuscript, which gives an account of
the same disorder having carried off two-thirds of the inhabitants
of West Barbary about four centuries since. But however this
destructive epidemy originated, its leading features were novel,
and its consequences more dreadful than the common plague of
Turkey, or that of Syria, or Egypt. Let every one freely declare
his own sentiments about it; let him assign any credible account of
its rise, or the causes that introduced so terrible a scene. I
shall relate only what its symptoms were, what it actually was, and
how it terminated, having been an eye-witness of its dreadful
effects, and having seen and visited many who were afflicted, and
who were dying with it.
[Footnote 128: See the Author's observations, in a letter to
Mr. Willis, in Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1805.]
In the month of April, 1799, a dreadful plague, of a most
destructive nature, manifested itself in the city of Old Fas, which
soon after communicated itself to the new city. This unparalleled
calamity, carried off one or two the first day, three or four the
second day, six or eight the third day, and increasing
progressively, until the mortality amounted to two in the hundred
of the aggregate population, continuing _with unabating violence_,
ten, fifteen, or twenty days; being of longer duration in old than
in new towns; then diminishing in a progressive proportion from one
168 thousand a day to nine hundred, then to eight hundred, and so on
until it disappeared. Whatever recourse was had to medicine and to
physicians was unavailing; so that such expedients were at length
totally relinquished, and the people, overpowered by this terrible
scourge, lost all hopes of surviving it.
Whilst it raged in the town of Mogodor, a small village, _Diabet_,
situated about two miles south-east of that place, remained
uninfected, although the communication was open between them: on
the _thirty-fourth day_, however, after its first appearance at
Mogodor, this village was discovered to be infected, and the
disorder raged with great violence, making dreadful havock among
the human species for _twenty-one_ days, carrying off, during that
period, one hundred persons out of one hundred and thirty-three,
the original population of the village, before the plague visited
it; none died after this, and those who were infected, recovered in
the course of a month or two, some losing an eye, or the use of a
leg or an arm.
Many similar circumstances might be here adduced relative to the
numerous and populous villages dispersed through the extensive
Shelluh province of Haha, all which shared a similar or a worse
fate. Travelling through this province shortly after the plague had
exhausted itself, I saw many uninhabited ruins, which I had before
witnessed as flourishing villages; on making enquiry concerning the
169 population of these dismal remains, I was informed that in one
village, which contained six hundred inhabitants, four persons only
had escaped the ravage. Other villages, which had contained four or
five hundred, had only seven or eight survivors left to relate the
calamities they had suffered. Families which had retired to the
country to avoid the infection, on returning to town, when all
infection had apparently ceased, were generally attacked, and died;
a singular instance of this kind happened at Mogodor, where, after
the mortality had subsided, a corps of troops arrived from the city
of Terodant, in the province of Suse, where the plague had been
raging, and had subsided; these troops, after remaining three days
at Mogodor, were attacked with the disease, and it raged
exclusively among them for about a month, during which it carried
off two-thirds of their original number, one hundred men; during
this interval the other inhabitants of the town were exempt from
the disorder, though these troops were not confined to any
particular quarter, many of them having had apartments in the
houses of the inhabitants of the town.
The destruction of the human species in the province of Suse was
considerably greater than elsewhere; Terodant, formerly the
metropolis of a kingdom, but now that of Suse, lost, when the
infection was at its acme, about eight hundred each day; the
170 ruined, but still extensive city of Marocco[129], lost one thousand
each day; the populous cities of Old and New Fas diminished in
population twelve or fifteen hundred each day[130], insomuch, that
in these extensive cities, the mortality was so great, that the
living having not time to bury the dead, the bodies were deposited
or thrown altogether into large holes, which, when nearly full,
were covered over with earth. All regulations in matters of
sepulture before observed were now no longer regarded; things
sacred and things prophane had now lost their distinction, and
universal despair pervaded mankind. Young, healthy, and robust
persons of full stamina, were, for the most part, attacked first,
then women and children, and lastly, thin, sickly, emaciated, and
old people.
[Footnote 129: I have been informed that there are still at
Marocco, apartments wherein the dead were placed; and that
after the whole family was swept away the doors were built up,
and remain so to this day.]
[Footnote 130: There died, during the whole of the above
periods, in the city of Marocco, 50,000; in Fas, 65,000; in
Mogodor, 4500; and in Saffy, 5000; in all 124,500 souls!]
After this violent and deadly calamity had subsided, we beheld a
general alteration in the fortunes and circumstances of men; we saw
persons who before the plague were common labourers, now in
possession of thousands, and keeping horses without knowing how to
ride them. Parties of this description were met wherever we went,
171 and the men of family called them in derision _el wuratu_, the
inheritors.[131] Provisions also became extremely cheap and
abundant; the flocks and herds had been left in the fields, and
there was now no one to own them; and the propensity to plunder, so
notoriously attached to the character of the Arab, as well as to
the Shelluh and Moor, was superseded by a conscientious regard to
justice, originating from a continual apprehension of dissolution,
and that the _el khere_[132], as the plague was now called, was a
judgment of the Omnipotent on the disobedience of man, and that it
behoved every individual to amend his conduct, as a preparation to
his departure for paradise.
[Footnote 131: _Des gens parvenus_, as the French express it;
or upstarts.]
[Footnote 132: The good, or benediction.]
The expense of labour at the same time increased enormously[133],
and never was equality in the human species more conspicuous than
at this time; when corn was to be ground, or bread baked, both were
performed in the houses of the affluent, and prepared by
themselves, for the very few people whom the plague had spared,
were insufficient to administer to the wants of the rich and
independent, and they were accordingly compelled to work for
themselves, performing personally the menial offices of their
respective families.
172
[Footnote 133: At this time I received from Marocco a caravan
of many camel-loads of bees-wax, in serrons containing 200 lbs.
each; I sent for workmen to place them one upon another, and
they demanded one dollar per serron for so moving them.]
The country being now depopulated, and much of the territory
without owners, vast tribes of Arabs emigrated from their abodes in
the interior of Sahara, and took possession of the country
contiguous to the river Draha, as well as many districts in Suse;
and, in short, settling themselves, and pitching their tents
wherever they found a fertile country with little or no population.
The symptoms of this plague varied in different patients, the
variety of age and constitution gave it a like variety of
appearance and character. Those who enjoyed perfect health were
suddenly seized with head-aches and inflammations; the tongue and
throat became of a vivid red, the breath was drawn with difficulty,
and was succeeded by sneezing and hoarseness; when once settled in
the stomach, it excited vomitings of black bile, attended with
excessive torture, weakness, hiccough, and convulsion. Some were
seized with sudden shivering, or delirium, and had a sensation of
such intense inward heat, that they threw off their clothes, and
would have walked about naked in quest of water wherein to plunge
themselves. Cold water was eagerly resorted to by the unwary and
imprudent, and proved fatal to those who indulged in its momentary
relief. Some had one, two, or more buboes, which formed themselves,
173 and became often as large as a walnut, in the course of a day;
others had a similar number of carbuncles; others had both buboes
and carbuncles, which generally appeared in the groin, under the
arm, or near the breast. Those who were affected[134] with a
shivering, having no buboe, carbuncle, spots, or any other exterior
disfiguration, were invariably carried off in less than twenty-four
hours, and the body of the deceased became quickly putrified, so
that it was indispensably necessary to bury it a few hours after
dissolution. It is remarkable, that the birds of the air fled away
from the abode of men, for none were to be seen during this
174 calamitous period; the hyænas, on the contrary, visited the
cemeteries, and sought the dead bodies to devour them. I
recommended Mr. Baldwin's[135] invaluable remedy of olive oil,
applied according to his directions; several Jews, and some
Muselmin[136], were induced to try it, and I was afterwards visited
by many, to whom I had recommended it, and had given them written
directions in Arabic how to apply it: and I do not know any
instance of its failing when persevered in, even after the
infection had manifested itself.
[Footnote 134: _M'drob_ is an idiom in the Arabic language
somewhat difficult to render into English; it is well known
that the Muhamedans are predestinarians, and that they believe
in the existence of spirits, devils, &c.; their idea of the
plague is, that it is a good or blessing sent from God to clear
the world of a superfluous population--that no medicine or
precaution can cure or prevent it; that every one who is to be
a victim to it is (_mktube_) recorded in the Book of Fate; that
there are certain Genii who preside over the fate of men, and
who sometimes discover themselves in various forms, having
often legs similar to those of fowls: that these Genii are
armed with arrows: that when a person is attacked by the
plague, which is called in Arabic _l'amer_, or the destiny or
decree, he is shot by one of these Genii, and the sensation of
the invisible wound is similar to that from a musquet-ball;
hence the universal application of _M'drob_ to a person
afflicted with the plague, i.e. he is shot; and if he die,
_ufah ameruh_, his destiny is completed or terminated (in this
world). I scarcely ever yet saw the Muselman who did not affirm
that he had at some time of his life seen these Genii; and they
often appear, they say, in rivers.]
[Footnote 135: Late British Consul in Egypt.]
[Footnote 136: Muselman, sing.: Muselmin. plur.]
I have no doubt but the epidemy which made its appearance at Cadiz,
and all along the southern shores of Spain, immediately as the
plague was subsiding in West Barbary, was the same disorder with
the one above described, suffering, after its passage to a
Christian country, some variation, originating from the different
modes of living, and other circumstances; for nothing can be more
opposite than the food, dress, customs, and manners of Muhamedans
and Christians, notwithstanding the approximation of Spain to
Marocco. We have been credibly informed, that it was communicated
originally to Spain, by two infected persons, who went from Tangier
to Estapona, a small village on the opposite shore; who, after
eluding the vigilance of the guards, reached Cadiz. We have also
been assured that it was communicated by some infected persons who
175 landed in Spain, from a vessel that had loaded produce at L'Araiche
in West Barbary. Another account was, that a Spanish privateer,
which had occasion to land its crew for the purpose of procuring
water in some part of West Barbary, caught the infection from
communicating with the natives, and afterwards proceeding to Cadiz,
and spread it in that town and the adjacent country.
It should be observed, for the information of those who may be
desirous of investigating the nature of this extraordinary
distemper, that, from its character and its symptoms, approximating
to the peculiar plague, which (according to the before mentioned
Arabic record) ravaged and depopulated West Barbary four centuries
since, the Arabs and Moors were of opinion it would subside after
the first year, and not appear again the next, as the Egyptian
plague does; and agreeably to this opinion, it did not re-appear
the second year: neither did St. John's day, or that season, affect
its virulence; but about that period there prevails along the coast
of West Barbary, a trade-wind, which, beginning to blow in the
month of May, continues throughout the months of June, July, and
August, with little intermission. It was apprehended that the
influence of this trade-wind, added to the superstitious opinion of
the plague ceasing on St. John's day, would stop, or at least
sensibly diminish the mortality; but no such thing happened: the
wind did set in, as it invariably does, about St. John's day; the
176 disorder, however, increased at that period, rather than
diminished. Some persons were of opinion, that the infection
maintained its virulence till the last; that the decrease of
mortality did not originate from a decrease of the _miasma_, but
from a decrease of population, and a consequent want of subjects to
prey upon; and this indeed is a plausible idea; but admitting it to
be just, how are we to account for the almost invariable fatality
of the disorder, when at its height, and the comparative innocence
of it when on the decline? for _then_, the chance to those who had
it, was, that they would recover and survive the malady.
The old men seemed to indulge in a superstitious tradition, that
when this peculiar kind of epidemy attacks a country, it does not
return or continue for three or more years, but disappears
altogether, (after the first year,) and is followed the seventh
year by contagious rheums and expectoration, the violence of which
lasts from three to seven days, but is not fatal. Whether this
opinion be in general founded in truth I cannot determine; but in
the spring of the year 1806, which was the seventh year from the
appearance of the plague at Fas in 1799, a species of influenza
pervaded the whole country; the patient going to bed well, and, on
rising in the morning, a thick phlegm was expectorated, accompanied
by a distressing rheum, or cold in the head, with a cough, which
quickly reduced those affected to extreme weakness, but was seldom
fatal, continuing from three to seven days, with more or less
violence, and then gradually disappearing.
177
During the plague at Mogodor, the European merchants shut
themselves up in their respective houses, as is the practice in the
Levant; I did not take this precaution, but occasionally rode out
to take exercise on horseback. Riding one day out of the town, I
met the Governor's brother, who asked me where I was going, when
every other European was shut up? "To the garden," I
answered.--"And are you not aware that the garden and the adjacent
country is full of (_Jinune_) departed souls, who are busy in
smiting with the plague every one they meet?" I could not help
smiling, but told him, that I trusted to God only, who would not
allow any of the _Jinune_ to smite me unless it were his sovereign
will, and that if it were, he could effect it without the agency of
_Jinune_. On my return to town in the evening, the beach, from the
town-gate to the sanctuary of Seedi,[137] Mogodole was covered with
biers. My daily observations convinced me that the epidemy was not
caught by approach, unless that approach was accompanied by an
inhaling of the breath, or by touching the infected person; I
therefore had a separation made across the gallery, inside of my
house, between the kitchen and dining parlour, of the width of
three feet, which is sufficiently wide to prevent the inhaling the
178 breath of a person. From this partition or table of separation I
took the dishes, and after dinner returned them to the same place,
suffering none of the servants to come near me; and in the
accounting-house, I had a partition made to prevent the too near
approach of any person who might call on business; and this
precaution I firmly believe to be all that is necessary, added to
that of receiving money through vinegar, and taking care not to
touch or smell infectious substances.
[Footnote 137: A sanctuary a mile south-east of the town of
Mogodor, from whence, the town receives its name.]
Fear had an extraordinary effect in disposing the body to receive
the infection; and those who were subject thereto, invariably
caught the malady, which was for the most part fatal. At the
breaking out of the plague at Mogodor, there were two medical men,
an Italian and a Frenchman, the latter, a man of science, a great
botanist, and of an acute discrimination; they, however, did not
remain, but took the first opportunity of leaving the place for
Teneriffe, so that the few Europeans had no expectation of any
medical assistance except that of the natives. Plaisters of gum
ammoniac, and the juice of the leaves of the _opuntia_, or _kermuse
ensarrah_, _i.e._ prickly pear, were universally applied to the
carbuncles, as well as to the buboes, which quickly brought them to
suppuration: many of the people of property took copious draughts
of coffee and Peruvian bark. The _Vinaigre de quatre voleurs_, was
179 used by many, also camphor, smoking tobacco, or fumigations of gum
Sandrac; straw was also burned by some, who were of opinion, that
any thing which produced abundance of smoke, was sufficient to
purify the air of pestilential effluvia.
During the existence of the plague, I had been in the chambers of
men on their death-bed: I had had Europeans at my table, who were
infected, as well as Moors, who actually had buboes on them; I took
no other precaution than that of separation, carefully avoiding to
touch the hand, or inhale the breath; and, notwithstanding what may
have been said, I am decidedly of opinion that the plague, at least
this peculiar species of it, is not produced by any infectious
principle in the atmosphere, but caught solely by touching infected
substances, or inhaling the breath of those who are diseased; and
that it must not be confounded with the common plague of Egypt, or
Constantinople, being a malady of a much more desperate and
destructive kind. It has been said, by persons who have discussed
the nature and character of the plague, that the cultivation of a
country, the draining of the lands, and other agricultural
improvements, tend to eradicate or diminish it; but, at the same
time, we have seen countries depopulated where there was no morass,
or stagnate water for many days' journey, nor even a tree to impede
the current of air, or a town, nor any thing but encampments of
Arabs, who procured water from wells of a great depth, and
180 inhabited plains so extensive and uniform, that they resemble the
sea, and are so similar in appearance after, as well as before
sun-rise, that if the eye could abstract itself from the spot
immediately surrounding the spectator, it could not be ascertained
whether it were sea or land.
I shall now subjoin a few cases for the further elucidation of this
distemper, hoping that the medical reader will pardon any
inaccuracy originating from my not being a professional man.
Case I.--One afternoon, I went into the kitchen, and saw the cook
making the bread; he appeared in good health and spirits; I
afterwards went into the adjoining parlour, and took up a book to
read; in half an hour the same man came to the door of the room,
with his eyes starting from his head, and his bed-clothes, &c. in
his hands, saying, "open the gate for me, for I am (_m'dorb_)
smitten." I was astonished at the sudden transition, and desired
him to go out, and I would follow and shut the gate. The next
morning he sent his wife out on an errand, and got out of bed, and
came to the gate half-dressed, saying that he was quite recovered,
and desired I would let him in. I did not, however, think it safe
to admit him, but told him to go back to his house for a few days,
until he should be able to ascertain that he was quite well; he
accordingly returned to his apartments, but expired that evening,
and before day-break his body was in such a state, that his feet
181 were actually putrified. His wife, by attending on him, caught the
infection, having a carbuncle, and also buboes, and was confined
two months before she recovered.
Case II.--L'Hage Hamed O Bryhim, the old governor of Mogodor, had
twelve or more children, and four wives, who were all attacked, and
died (except only one young wife); he attended them successively to
the grave, and notwithstanding that he assisted in performing the
religious ceremony of washing the body, he never himself caught the
infection; he lived some years afterwards, and out of the whole
household, consisting of wives, concubines, children, and slaves,
he had but one person left, which was the before-mentioned young
wife: this lady, however, had received the infection, and was
confined some time before she recovered.
Case. III.--Hamed ben A---- was smitten with the plague, which he
compared to the sensation of two musket balls fired at him, one in
each thigh; a giddiness and delirium succeeded, and immediately
afterwards a green vomiting, and he fell senseless to the ground; a
short time afterwards, on the two places where he had felt as if
shot, biles or buboes formed, and on suppurating, discharged a
foetid black pus; a (_jimmera_) carbuncle on the joint of the arm
near the elbow was full of thin ichor, contained in an elevated
skin, surrounded by a burning red colour; after three months'
confinement, being reduced to a skeleton, the disorder appeared to
182 have exhausted itself, and he began to recover his strength, which
in another month was fully reestablished. It was an observation
founded on daily experience, during the prevalence of this
disorder, that those who were attacked with a nausea at the
stomach, and a subsequent vomiting of green or yellow bile,
recovered after suffering in various degrees, and that those who
were affected with giddiness, or delirium, followed by a discharge
or vomiting of black bile, invariably died after lingering one,
two, or three days, their bodies being covered with small black
spots similar to grains of gun-powder; in this state, however, they
possessed their intellects, and spoke rationally till their
dissolution.
When the constitution was not disposed, or had not vigour enough to
throw the miasma to the surface in the form of biles, buboes,
carbuncles, or blackish spots, the virulence is supposed to have
operated inwardly, or on the vital parts, and the patient died in
less than twenty-four hours, without any exterior disfiguration.
Case IV.--It was reported that the Sultan had the plague twice
during the season, as many others had; so that the idea of its
attacking like the small-pox, a person but once in his life, is
refuted: the Sultan was cured by large doses of Peruvian bark
frequently repeated, and it was said that he found such infinite
benefit from it, that he advised his brothers never to travel
without having a good supply. The Emperor, since the plague, always
has by him a sufficient quantity of quill bark to supply his
emergency.
183
Case V.--H.L. was smitten with the plague, which affected him by a
pain similar to that of a long needle (as he expressed himself)
repeatedly plunged into his groin. In an hour or two afterwards, a
(_jimmera_) carbuncle appeared in the groin, which continued
enlarging three days, at the expiration of which period he could
neither support the pain, nor conceal his sensations; he laid
himself down on a couch; an Arabian doctor, applied to the
carbuncles the testicles of a ram cut in half, whilst the vital
warmth was still in them; the carbuncle on the third day was
encreased to the size of a small orange; the before-mentioned
remedy was daily applied during thirty days, after which he
resorted to cataplasms of the juice of the (_opuntia_) prickly
pear-tree, (_feshook_) gum ammoniac, and (_zite el aud_) oil of
olives, of each one-third; this was intended to promote
suppuration, which was soon effected; there remained after the
suppuration a large vacuity, which was daily filled with fine hemp
dipped in honey; by means of this application the wound filled up,
and the whole was well in thirty-nine days.
Case VI.--El H--t--e, a trading Jew of Mogodor, was sorely
afflicted; he called upon me, and requested some remedy; I advised
him to use oil of olives, and having Mr. Baldwin's mode of
184 administering it[138], I transcribed it in the Arabic language, and
gave it to him; he followed the prescription, and assured me, about
six weeks afterwards, that (with the blessing of God) he had
preserved his life by that remedy only; he said, that after having
been anointed with oil, his skin became harsh and dry like the
scales of a fish, but that in half an hour more, a profuse
perspiration came on, and continued for another half hour, after
which he experienced relief: this he repeated forty days, when, he
was quite recovered.
[Footnote 138: Mr. Baldwin observed, that, whilst the plague
ravaged Egypt, the dealers in oil were not affected with the
epidemy; and he accordingly recommended people to anoint
themselves with oil every day as a remedy.]
Case VII.--Moh--m'd ben A---- fell suddenly down in the street; he
was conveyed home; three carbuncles and five buboes appeared soon
after in his groin, under the joint of his knee, and arm-pits, and
inside the elbow; he died in three hours after the attack.
Case VIII.--L.R. was suddenly smitten with this dreadful calamity,
whilst looking over some Marocco leather; he fell instantaneously;
afterwards, when he had recovered his senses, he described the
sensation as that of the pricking of needles, at every part wherein
the carbuncles afterwards appeared: he died the same day in
defiance of medicine.
Case IX.--Mr. Pacifico, a merchant, was attacked, and felt a
pricking pain down the inside of the thick part of the thigh, near
the sinews; he was obliged to go to bed. I visited him the next
day, and was going to approach him, but he exclaimed, "Do not come
185 near for although I know I have not the prevailing distemper, yet
your friends, if you touch me, may persuade you otherwise, and that
might alarm you; I shall, I hope, be well in a few days." I took
the hint of Don Pedro de Victoria, a Spanish gentleman, who was in
the room, who, offering me a sagar, I smoked it, and then departed;
the next day the patient died. He was attended during his illness
by the philanthropic Monsieur Soubremont, who did not stir from his
bed-side till he expired; but after exposing himself in this
manner, escaped the infection, which proceeded, as he thought, from
his constantly having a pipe in his mouth.
Case X.--Two of the principal Jews of the town giving themselves
up, and having no hope, were willing to employ the remainder of
their lives in affording assistance to the dying and the dead, by
washing the bodies and interring them; this business they performed
during thirty or forty days, during all which time they were not
attacked: when the plague had nearly subsided, and they began again
to cherish hopes of surviving the calamity, they were both smitten,
but after a few days' illness recovered, and are now living.
From this last case, as well as from many others similar, but too
numerous here to recapitulate, it appears that the human
constitution requires a certain miasma, to prepare it to receive
the pestilential infection.
_General Observation._--When the carbuncles or buboes appeared to
186 have a blackish rim round their base, the case of that patient was
desperate, and invariably fatal. Sometimes the whole body was
covered with black spots like partridge-shot; such patients always
fell victims to the disorder, and those who felt the blow
internally, showing no external disfiguration, seldom survived more
than a few hours.
The plague appears to visit this country about once in every twenty
years[139]: the last visitation was in 1799 and 1800, being more
fatal than any ever before known.
[Footnote 139: This opinion is confirmed by the plague, being
now (1820) in Marocco just twenty years since the last plague.
65,000 persons have been lately carried off by this disease in
the cities of Old and New Fas.]
* * * * *
_Observations respecting the Plague that prevailed last Year in
West Barbary, and which was imported from Egypt; communicated by
the Author to the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Literature,
Science, and the Arts, edited at the Royal Institution of Great
Britain, No, 15, published in October, 1819._
His Majesty's ship, which was lying in the port of Alexandria, when
Colonel Fitzclarence passed through Egypt, from India, on his way
to England, convoyed to Tangier a vessel which had on board two of
the sons of Muley Soliman, emperor of Marocco; on their arrival at
Tangier, the princes immediately landed and proceeded to their
father at Fas; but it was discovered by the governor or alkaid of
187 Tangier, that during the passage some persons had died; and
accordingly the alkaid would not suffer any of the passengers to
land, except the princes, until he should have received orders from
the Emperor how to act; he accordingly wrote to Fas, for the
imperial orders, and in the mean time the princes arrived, and
presented themselves to the emperor: the latter wrote to the
alkaid, that as the princes had been suffered to land, it would be
unjust to prohibit the other passengers from coming ashore also. He
therefore ordered the alkaid to suffer all the passengers, together
with their baggage, to be landed, and soon afterwards the plague
appeared at Fas, and at Tangier. Thus the contagion which is now
ravaging West Barbary was imported from Egypt. It does not appear
that the mortality is, or has been, during its acme at Fas, any
thing comparable to what it was during the plague that ravaged this
country in 1799,[140] and which carried off more than two-thirds of
the population of the empire.
[Footnote 140: It has been asserted by a physician who has
lately written, _Observations on contagion, as it relates to
the plague and other epidemical diseases_, reviewed in article
20th of the _British Review_, and _London Critical Journal_,
published in May last, that I have asserted that the deaths
during the prevalence of that disorder in West Barbary in 1799,
amounted to 124,500; but on a reference to my account of
Marocco, Timbuctoo, &c., 2d or 3d edition, note, page 174, it
will appear, that this mortality was that of two cities, and
two sea-ports only, viz., the cities of Fas and Marocco, and
the ports of Saffy and Mogodor; the mortality, however, was
equally great in the imperial cities of Mequinas and Terodant,
and in the sea-port towns of Tetuan, Tangier, Arzilla,
L'Araich, Salee, Rabat, Dar el Bieda, Azamore, Mazagan, and
Santa Cruz, or Agadeer; and considerably greater among the
populous and numerous encampments of the Arabs, throughout the
various provinces of the empire; not to mention the incredible
mortality in the castles, towns, and other walled habitations
of the Shelluh province of Haha, the first province, travelling
from the shores of the Mediterranean, where the people live in
walled habitations, the seaports excepted.]
188
Whence proceeds this difference? Is it a different species of
plague, and not so deadly a contagion? Or is it because the remedy
of _olive_ oil, applied and recommended generally by me, and by
some other Europeans during the plague of 1799, is now made public
and generally administered? This is an inquiry well deserving the
attention of scientific men. And His Majesty's ministers might
procure the information from the British consul at Tangier, or from
the governor of Gibraltar: perhaps the truth is, that the contagion
is of a more mild character.
With regard to the remedy of olive oil applied[141] internally, I
should, myself, be disposed to doubt its efficacy unless M. Colaço,
189 the Portuguese consul at L'Araich, is competent to declare, _from
his own knowledge and experience_, that this remedy has been
administered effectually by him to persons having the plague, who
did not _also use the friction with oil_. I say, till this can be
ascertained, I think the remedy of oil applied _externally_, should
not be forsaken; as _it has been proved during the plague in
Africa, in 1799, to be infallible_, and therefore indispensable to
people whose vocation may lead them to associate with, or to touch
or bury the infected. For the rest, such persons as are not
compelled to associate with the infected, may effectually avoid the
contagion, however violent and deadly it may be, by avoiding
contact. I am so perfectly convinced of this fact, from the
experience and observation I have made during my residence at
Mogodor, whilst the plague raged there in 1799, that I would not
object to go to any country, although it were rotten with the
plague, provided my going would benefit mankind, or serve any
useful purpose; and I would use no fumigation, or any other remedy
but what I actually used at Mogodor in 1799. I am so convinced from
my own repeated and daily experience, that the most deadly plague
is as easy to be avoided BY STRICTLY ADHERING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF
AVOIDING PERSONAL CONTACT AND INHALATION, AND THE CONTACT OF
INFECTIOUS SUBSTANCES, that I would ride or walk through the most
190 populous and deeply-infected city, as I have done before, without
any other precaution than that of a segar in my mouth, when, by
avoiding contact and inhalation, I should most assuredly be free
from the danger of infection!!
[Footnote 141: Mr. Colaço, having lately observed that oil was
used externally to anoint the body, as a preservative against
the plague; conceived the idea of administering this simple
remedy _internally_ to persons already infected; numerous
experiments were made by this gentleman, who administered from
four to eight oz. olive oil at a dose; and out of 300
individuals already infected, who resorted to this remedy, only
twelve died.]
When these precautions are strictly observed, I maintain, (in
opposition to all the theoretical dogmas that have lately been
propagated) that there is no more danger of infection with the
plague, than there is of infection from any common cold or rheum.
191
JOURNEY FROM TANGIER TO RABAT
_THROUGH THE PLAINS OF SEBOO_,
To accompany Dr. Bell, in Company with the Prince Muley Teib and an
Army of Cavalry.
_Officiated as Interpreter between the Prince and Dr.
Bell.--Description of Food sent to us by the Prince.--The Plains of
M'sharrah Rummellah, an incomparable fine and productive
Country.--The Cavalry of the Amorites,--their unique Observations
on Dr. Bell.--their mean Opinion of his Art, because he could not
cure Death.--Passage of the River Seboo on Rafts of inflated
Skins.--Spacious Tent of Goat's Hair erected for the Sheik, and
appropriated to the Use of the Prince.--Description of the
magnificent Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah and Seboo.--Arabian
Royalty.--Prodigious Quantity of Corn grown in these
Plains.--Matamores, what they are.--Mode of Reaping.--The Prince
presents the Doctor with a Horse, and approves of his
Medicines.--The Prince and the Doctor depart south-eastwardly, and
the Author pursues his Journey to Rabat and Mogodor._
I happened to be at Tangier when the (_shereef_) prince Muley Teib
was collecting an army to join that of the emperor, which was on
the banks of the river Morbeya, (see the map of West Barbary, p.
55,) in Shawiya. Doctor Bell, who had then recently arrived from
Gibraltar, to attend the prince, whose lungs were affected, was to
192 accompany his Royal Highness; and, as I had nothing to detain me in
Tangier, and was going to Rabat, I engaged to accompany the doctor,
and offered to officiate as interpreter between him and the prince
till our arrival at Rabat; after which I should leave him, and
proceed to Mogodor. The Doctor readily assented to my proposition,
because it is considered more respectable in this country, where
the Jews are reprobated and despised, to have for an interpreter a
Christian; the prince also, when he heard that I had thus offered
my services, expressed himself much gratified, and I received a
very polite message from him. The next day we started from Tangier,
in the morning at ten o'clock. The army halted east of Arzilla, in
the plains: the prince sat down under the shade of a tree to
dinner, Dr. Bell and myself under another tree, about 100 yards
distant. The Prince sent us a capon stewed _à-la-mauresque_ with
saffron, the exquisite flavour of which proved that he had an
excellent cook with him. We departed in half an hour; and the tents
were pitched at sunset, in a campaign country, between Arzilla and
L'Araich. The Ait-Amor or Amorites who formed a part of this army,
a wild, uncontrolled race of Berebbers, saw the attention that was
paid by the shereef to the doctor, and after dinner they were
determined to see what sort of a fellow this doctor was, whom the
shereef treated so familiarly. They galloped their high-mettled
horses up to the doctor; and stopping short to examine him, made a
193 reflection on him and returned. The doctor observed the wild and
tattered appearance of these excellent horsemen. There was nothing
evil-minded in them; but their observations were remarkable. The
Doctor wore powder, a custom unknown in this country: one party
would say, "He has got lime in his head to kill the vermin;"
another would observe that "He was old or grey-headed." The Doctor
was fond of his bottle, and some said _skurren bel akkaran_, i.e.
"The[142] son of a cuckold is drunk." Others would bawl out, _Wa
Tebeeb washka't dowie elmoot_, i.e. "O, doctor, canst thou cure
death?" To which he replied, "No."--"Then," returned they, "thou
art no doctor!" On the following morning at sun-rise we proceeded,
and reached L'Araich at twelve o'clock; we did not enter the town,
but dined in the plains, and proceeding afterwards out of the main
road, we directed our course south-east, till we reached a most
beautiful and very extensive plain, called M'sharrah Rummellah.
This plain was covered with numerous and immense flocks of sheep
and horned cattle, and is many times more extensive than Salisbury
plain. We pitched our tents near a very extensive and populous
douar of Arabs. We departed the next morning at sun-rise, and
reached the plains of the river Seboo about two o'clock in the
afternoon; which plains are a continuation of those of M'sharrah
194 Rummellah; the army were engaged the remaining part of the day and
the whole night crossing the river Seboo, on rafts made of inflated
cow-hides, covered with planks and straw. The river is here about
twenty yards wide, but very deep and rapid; the Arabs had a long
and spacious sheik's tent pitched for the reception of the prince,
about forty feet long and fifteen wide, somewhat similar to the
hull of a ship reversed, having the long side open to the sun.
These tents are the palace of the sheik of the Arabs, and are
erected on great occasions only, such as that of the emperor, or a
prince passing through their territory. The plains of M'sharrah
Rummellah are one hundred and fifty British miles in circumference,
perfectly flat, without a stone, a tree, a hedge, or a ditch; with
the majestic river Seboo passing through the centre of the plain.
The soil of this territory, which, in the hands of Europeans, might
be made a terrestrial paradise, is a rich, productive, decomposed
vegetable earth, which extends, as we perceived from various
chasms, to the depth of several feet from the surface. It produces
incredible quantities of the finest wheat, of a hard grain, very
large and long, clear as amber, and yielding a prodigious increase
of flour, so that a saa of wheat[143] produces a saa and a sixth of
195 flour. The prince, Muley Teeb, seated on an eminence in this
spacious tent, resembled what we should imagine the patriarch
Abraham to have been, entertaining his friends; or Saul upon his
throne, with his javelin in his hand. He had twelve lanciers, six
on each side of him in a row, standing with their lances erect, the
Prince having one in his hand. It appears that this is the Arabian
etiquette; and the Arabs appeared much gratified that the prince
had personified their sheik, with all the paraphernalia of royalty.
His Royal Highness whose mind seemed moved with the beauty of this
country, sent for the Doctor and myself, and asked us if we had
ever seen such a country before. We frankly confessed we had not.
The prince smiled, and said, that the (_sehell_) plain we were on,
although extremely populous, and full of douars, could grow
seventeen times as much corn as the inhabitants could consume; that
there was then corn enough in the matamores[144] of this plain, to
supply (_El garb kamel_) the whole of El garb, i.e. the country
north of the river Morbeya.[145]
[Footnote 142: Intoxication is a damnable vice with these
people; and when they remark drunkenness, they invariably add
an opprobrium to the observation.]
[Footnote 143: A saa of wheat is little less than two
Winchester bushels. The wheat is very heavy, and this measure
weighs 100 lb., equal to 119 lb. English.]
[Footnote 144: The matamores are subterraneous depositories for
corn, in which they preserve the wheat sound and good thirty
years; but when a matamore is once opened, it is expedient to
consume the corn immediately, otherwise it contracts what is
called the matamore twang. These depositories are indispensable
in countries exposed to drought, scarcity, or locusts, and
_should be adopted in our colony of South Africa_. The art of
constructing them is very peculiar, and I devoted some time in
learning it.]
[Footnote 145: See the map of West Barbary.]
196
We took our leave of the Prince, who appeared much gratified with
the hospitable entertainment of the Arabs, and with their
patriarchal style of living, and sent us an enormous dish of
cuscasoe, coloured with saffron.
Encamped in the centre of this plain, when the sun had set, and the
twilight came on, we could have imagined ourselves in the midst of
the ocean. Not a cloud was in the sky, nor a hill on the land, to
intercept the uniformity of the horizon; the moon shone so bright,
that we could read by its light, and the universal novelty of the
scene resembled enchantment.
On this rich land they use no dung: they reap the corn about a foot
from the ground, and burn the stubble. The produce is greater even
than that of the _new-dyke land_, on the banks of the river Ems, in
North Holland. The allotments of land are ascertained by a large
stone, placed at each corner of the square, when the reapers reach
these stones, they desist from proceeding or reaping the corn of
other proprietors. We rose early in the morning, and found the air
of this terrestrial paradise strongly perfumed with millions of
odoriferous flowers, that were growing spontaneously throughout the
plains. Walking with Dr. Bell through the Prince's camp, we saw a
beautiful grey horse. The doctor admired it. I recommended him to
ask the Prince for it, he was not acquainted with the customs of
197 this country, and ridiculed my observation. "If you wish to have
that horse, Doctor," said I, "I will engage that the Prince will
get it for you. I represented immediately to His Royal Highness,
that the Doctor had taken a liking to the horse, and would wish to
buy it. Not buy it," said the Prince; "he will receive it as a
present from me. Tell him, he deserves seven horses for the benefit
he has done me: all doctors that I have heretofore had have taken
twenty-four hours to give me ease; he relieves me in one. Tell him
so," said the prince, "and that he (_massab ala genibuna_) is in
the number of my dearest friends. (_e jeek elkhere attibib u
asselem_), Good be with you, doctor, and peace be with you." Thus
ended the negociation for the horse. I found afterwards that it
belonged to a sheik of the Arab province of Beni Hassen, who
regretted parting with it, but the Prince gave him the value of it,
and much courtesy withal. We struck our tents next morning at
eleven o'clock, and, travelling southward, the Prince received an
express from the Emperor to join his imperial army forthwith:
accordingly the Prince and his doctor departed south-east, and I
took leave of them, and pursued my journey to Rabat.
198
OF
THE EXCAVATED RESIDENCES
OF THE
INHABITANTS OF ATLAS:
THE
_ACEPHALI, HEL SHUAL, AND HEL ELKILLEB:_
_The Discovery of Africa not to be effected by the present System
of solitary Travellers; but by a grand Plan, with a numerous
Company; beginning with Commerce, as the natural Prelude to
Discovery, the Fore-runner of Civilization, and a preliminary Step,
indispensable to the Conversion of the native Negroes to
Christianity._
The inhabitants of the snowy or upper regions of the Atlas live,
during the months of November, December, January, February, and
half of March, in caves or excavations in the mountains; the snow
then disappears, and they begin to cultivate the earth.
I have repeatedly heard reports of the (_Helel Killeb_,[146])
dog-faced race; of the (_Hel Shual_,) tailed race; and of the race
199 having one eye,[147] and that in the breast. It is extremely
difficult to ascertain the origin of these reports, which are so
involved in metaphor that the signification is not intelligible to
Europeans; their existence is not doubted, however, in Africa. Of
the _Hel El Killeb_ some ignorant people affirm that the Almighty
transformed one of the tribes of the Jews into these people, and
that these are their descendants; others report them to be a
mongrel breed, between the human and ape species; their strength is
said to be very great. The Africans assert with considerable
confidence, which is corroborated, that the Hel Shual have a tail
half a cubit long; that they inhabit a district in the Desert at an
immense distance south-east of Marocco; that the Hel El Killeb[148]
200 are in a similar direction; that the latter are diminutive, being
about two or three cubits[149] in height; that they exclaim _bak,
bak, bak_, and that they have a few articulate sounds, which they
mutually understand among themselves; that they are extremely swift
of foot, and run as fast as horses. The Arimaspi of Herodotus are
called by the Arabs _Hel Ferdie_, these are represented by the
Arabs of the Desert as living at the foot of the lofty mountains of
the Moon, near Abyssinia: the male and female are equally without
hair on their head, having large chins and nostrils, like the ape
species; they are said to have a language of their own; their
costume is a _jelabea_,[150] and a belt, without shoes or head
dress; their country is said to abound in gold. It is "a
consummation devoutly to be wished," that our knowledge of Africa
should increase so as to enable us to unravel the mystery of these
doubtful reports, to ascertain the degree of credit that is due to
these mysterious traditions. These desiderata, however, can hardly
201 be expected, whilst the present injudicious plans for the discovery
of Africa are persevered in. We must, if we desire to discover
effectually the hidden recesses and reported wonders of this
continent, adopt plans and schemes very different from any that
have hitherto been suggested; we must adopt _a grand system upon an
extensive scale_, a system directed and moved by a person competent
to so great an undertaking. The head or director of such an
expedition should be master of the general travelling and
trafficking language of Africa, the modern Arabic: he should
moreover be acquainted with the character of the people, their
habits, modes of life, religious prejudices, and fanaticism. A
grand plan, thus directed, could hardly fail to secure the command
of the commerce of Africa to Great Britain. Then the discovery of
the inmost recesses would follow the path of commerce, and that
continent, which has baffled the researches of the moderns as well
as of the ancients, would lay open its treasures to modern Europe,
and civilisation would be the natural result. Then would be the
period to attempt the conversion of the Negroes to Christianity;
and the standard of peace and good will towards men might be
successfully planted on the banks of the _Nile El Kabeer_, or _Nile
Assudan_, the Great Nile, or Nile of Sudan, or Nigritia, commonly
called the Niger.
[Footnote 146: Apollonius Rhodius calls these people [Greek:
êmikuges] or half-dogs.]
[Footnote 147: The ingenious author of Philosophic Researches
concerning the Americans, speaking of a race which appear to
resemble the Acephali of Herodotus, or the race of men having
one eye, and that in their chest, says, "There is in Canibar a
race of savages who have hardly any neck, and whose shoulders
reach up to their ears. This monstrous appearance is
artificial, and to give it to their children they put enormous
weights upon their heads, so as to make the vertebræ of the
neck enter, if we may so say, the channel bone, (clavicule.)
These barbarians, from a distance, seem to have their mouth in
the breast; and might well enough, in ignorant and enthusiastic
travellers, serve to revive the fable of the Acephali, or men
without heads." (See Larcher's Notes on Herodotus's Melpomene,
cap. 191.)--Saint Augustin, whose veracity is scarcely to be
doubted, declared in his thirty-third sermon, intituled _"A ses
Frères dans le Désert"--Avoir vu en Ethiopie des hommes et des
femmes sans tête avec des grands yeux sur le poitrine._]
[Footnote 148: We have heard of a pig-faced lady; if there is
such a person, there might also be a pig-faced gentleman, and
these might generate a pig-faced race; and if a pig-faced race,
why not a dog-faced race?]
[Footnote 149: Seven Cubits make four English yards.]
[Footnote 150: The best description I can give of a _jelabea_
is this: Take a large sack and cut a hole in the bottom, big
enough to admit the head; then cut the two bottom corners off
to admit the arms: this garment will then resemble the
_jelabea_.]
202
CAUTIONS
TO BE USED IN TRAVELLING.
_Danger of travelling after Sun-set.--The Emperor holds himself
accountable for Thefts committed on Travellers, whilst travelling
between the rising and the setting Sun.--Emigration of
Arabs.--Patriarchal Style of living among the Arabs; Food,
Clothing, domestic Looms, and Manufactures.--Riches of the Arabs
calculated by the Number of Camels they possess.--Arabian Women are
good Figures, and have personal Beauty; delicate in their Food;
poetical Geniuses; Dancing and Amusements; Musical Instruments;
their Manners are courteous_.
Travellers in West and South Barbary should never be out after
sun-set: it is not safe to travel in many parts of the country
during the night. The emperor holds himself accountable for thefts
committed between the rising and the setting sun; so that, if a
traveller be robbed of property, the value should be ascertained,
and an application being made to the bashaw of the province where
the robbery was committed it will be restored forthwith; but if
there be any demur, an application should be made to the Emperor,
personally, if possible, but if not, by letter; and the district is
immediately ordered to pay double the loss, one half to the person
robbed, and the other half to the Imperial treasury.
203
These robberies, however, rarely occur; for the bashaws of the
provinces and the alkaids of the douars feel it a duty incumbent on
them to protect all travellers and strangers; so that they would,
in the event of a robbery being committed, expose themselves to a
severe reprimand from the emperor, and an intimation that they
were, by suffering such irregularity, incompetent to their
situation, and would be liable to a heavy fine, or a discharge from
their office, for _neglect of vigilance_, which, in this country,
is considered _very reprehensible_.
Travelling through the province of Suse, I once witnessed the
emigration of an extensive douar of Arabs, amounting to about 200
families. They were just leaving their habitation, where they had
been encamped only a few months: it was a fine grazing country; the
camels, horses, mules, asses, oxen and cows, were all laden with
the tents and baggage of these wanderers. On enquiring the cause of
this emigration, I was told that the inhabitants were infested with
musquitoes and fleas to such a degree, that they had all
unanimously resolved to emigrate to another place, which they had
fixed upon, and that they would reach it by night. These wandering
Arabs, without any fixed habitation, are of a restless,
ungovernable spirit: they never cultivate the earth, as do the
Arabs of the plains of Marocco, but live, for the most part, on
camels' milk, occasionally killing a camel or a goat for food;
204 grazing their camels in the adjacent country: they live in the true
Patriarchal style, and seek the means of supplying all their wants
within themselves. To effect this purpose, they barter a few of
their camels for wool, and thus supply themselves with that article
for clothing, which is made in every (_keyma_) Arab tent, by the
women, at their own respective looms; each female being the
manufacturer for her own family. The cloth is wove in pieces of
seven cubits long and about two and a half broad, of the natural
colour of the wool: these pieces of cloth are afterwards converted
into cloaks, mantles, and tunics. Those who choose to indulge in
the luxury of dress, by wearing linen, or turbans, send a few
goat-skins, collected from the goats that have served them
occasionally for food, to Mogodor, or Marocco, or barter them with
some Jews for linen or shoes, and thus supply all their wants; so
that their resources considerably exceed their wants, for some of
them have several thousand camels which cost them nothing. These
animals browse on the bushes in the environs of their habitations,
and are continually increasing and multiplying. They never kill any
animal for food until full grown: this custom, from which the Arab
never departs, is manifestly calculated to increase property,
which, being invested in camels, is transportable, without trouble
or expense, wherever they choose.
The Arabs are gay and cheerful; the brow of care is rarely seen
205 among them. The more children they have, the greater the blessing.
They turn their hands in early youth to some useful purpose: so
soon as they can walk they attend the camels, or are put to some
domestic occupation; thus forming a useful link in the chain of
their patriarchal society. The independence of these Arabs is
depicted in their physiognomy; they are oppressed by no cankering
care, no anxiety, no anticipation of distress. The food and
clothing of the Arab is always at hand; fuel is not required in
this warm country; and a glass of cool water is all that is desired
to allay the thirst. This simple and abstemious mode of living is
congenial to the human constitution; accordingly they enjoy
uninterrupted health: sickness is so uncommon with them that to be
old and to be sick are synonymous terms. They think one cannot
happen without the other. Some of the women of these people, whilst
young, are extremely delicate, handsome, and have elegant figures.
They account it gross to swallow food, that would, they say, fatten
them like their Moorish neighbours; they therefore masticate it
only. Their physiognomy is very interesting and animated; their
features are regular; large black expressive eyes; a ready wit,
poetic fancy, expressing themselves in poetic effusions, in which,
from constant habit, some of them have become such adepts, that
they with facility speak extempore poetry; those who are unable to
206 converse in this manner are less esteemed. Their evening amusements
consist in dancing and music, vocal and instrumental. Generally,
throughout all the Arab provinces, but particularly in Suse, among
the Mograffra Arabs, the Woled Abbusebah, and Woled Deleim, the
whole country is in a blaze of light of a summer's evening; music,
dancing, and rejoicing, is heard in every direction. Their music
consists of a kettle-drum, a flute or reed, similar to what Homer
describes as the instrument of the ancient shepherds, a rhabeb or
two-stringed fiddle, played with a semicircular bow, a tamboureen,
and brass castanets. They play in precise time; and the ladies
arrange themselves at the entrance of the sheik's tent. It is
pleasant to observe the beauty of their fine-formed feet, uninjured
by tight shoes, and free from corns and all excrescences. They
dance some dances barefooted, making very short steps, scarcely
raising the foot from the ground, in a peculiar manner. They have
elegant and circular ankles; and their light motions fascinate the
eyes of the spectators and the admiring strangers, who occasionally
exclaim, (_Allah éhrduh alikume ia Elarb_) "the protection of God
be upon you, O Arabs!" (_makine fal Elarb_,) "there are none
comparable to the Arabs!" They have a very elegant shawl-dance: in
the management of the shawl they display singular grace, and
practise elegant figures, sometimes concealing their faces,
207 sometimes showing their brilliant eyes through an opening in the
shawl. The manners of these ladies is courteous, but chaste;
perfectly modest, but without reserve; and the other sex pay them
courteous attention.
208
ABUNDANCE OF CORN
PRODUCED IN
WEST BARBARY.
_Costly Presents made by Spain to the Emperor.--Bashaw of
Duquella's weekly Present of a Bar of Gold.--Mitferes or
Subterraneous Depositories for Corn_.
The empire of Marocco, west of the Atlas, during the reign of Seedi
Muhamed ben Abdallah, father of the present Emperor Soliman, was
one continued corn-field. At that time the exportation was free to
all parts of the world. It is impossible to conceive the abundance
produced in this prolific land, none but those who have actually
seen the standing corn in the ear, and have seen it reaped, can
form any correct idea of its prodigious increase. The plains of
Rahamena, of Shawiya, of Temsena, of Abda, and Duquella, those
immense plains of M'sharrah Rummellah, of Ait-Amor, and many
others, form each, separately, extensive fields of corn, farther
than the eye can reach. To give an idea of the quantity produced in
the plains near Dar El Beida, it will be sufficient to say, that
250 sail of ships, from 150 to 700 tons, were loaded at that port
in one year of Seedy Muhamed's reign. At the other ports on the
209 shores of the Atlantic, viz. at Arzilla, L'Araich, Meheduma, Rabat,
Azamor, Mazagan, Saffy, and Mogodor, were shipped a quantity,
almost equal in proportion to what was shipped at Dar-El-Beida, so
that the duties at one dollar per fanegue, of 80 lb. weight on the
exportation of wheat, barley, Indian corn, caravances, beans, and
seeds, in one year, according to the imperial registers, amounted
to 5,257,320 Mexico dollars.[151] Besides which, presents to an
incalculable amount were made from time to time by Spain and
Portugal, particularly by the former, to keep the Emperor in good
humour, and to prevent him from prohibiting the exportation of
grain, of which however there was little chance, as his Imperial
Majesty was always diligent in the accumulation of treasure, and
let no opportunity pass of encouraging the agriculture of his
dominions. This system gave general occupation to the Arabs, or
agriculturists, and enriched them so universally, that the
diffusion of wealth among them, produced other incalculable sources
of revenue, insomuch that it was customary for Muhamed Ben Amaran,
Bashaw of Duquella, to present to the Emperor at Marocco, every
Friday, (the Muhamedan sabbath), as he returned home from the
mosque, a massive bar of pure gold of Timbuctoo, valued at some
210 thousand dollars; which was considered as the fee by which he held
his bashawick. The Arabs who are the agriculturists of the
before-mentioned plains, besides the corn exported, lay up immense
quantities in subterraneous caverns, constructed by a curious
process, well deserving the attention of the colonists of South
Africa; these repositories are called mitferes[152], they are
constructed in a conical form, and will contain from 200 to 2000
quarters of corn.[153] It is expedient, in their construction, to
exclude the atmospheric air; and the soil, in which they are
constructed, should be essentially conservative, the air being
never changed, is constantly of the same temperature, very dry, and
not subject to the variations of humidity, which affect the
external air: this, with other necessary precautions being
observed, they will preserve the corn twenty or thirty years
perfectly sound. In countries, (like that of the Cape of Good
Hope,) subject to drought, inundations, or locusts, these mitferes,
or catacombs are indispensable, as they preserve corn as a reserve
stock, in the event of scarcity, or famine, produced by any of the
before mentioned calamities, or providential visitations. It is
211 more than probable that this singular art of constructing mitferes,
was derived in ancient times from the catacombs of Egypt, and that
Joseph might have preserved Pharaoh's corn[154] upwards of seven
years, in similar magazines. The Emperor Seedi Muhamed, who
possessed considerable talent, and had a perfect knowledge of the
disposition and character of his subjects, used to say in the
(_em'shoer_,) place of audience, before all the people, in the
latter part of his reign:--"You complain of my decrees; but when I
am departed from this world, you shall seek for one day of Seedi
Muhamed's reign, but you shall not find it." This prediction has
been literally verified throughout the respective reigns of his
sons Muley Yezzed, and Muley El Hesham, and even his son the
present Emperor has often manifested an anti-commercial system, and
has accordingly (probably by the advice of the Fakeers belonging to
the divan) prohibited the exportation of most articles of clothing,
and provision, such as wool, Fas manufactures, corn, olive oil,
raisins, &c.[155]
[Footnote 151: Barley and wheat imported from different ports
of England and from the Continent into London (which is more
than is imported into Great Britain) in 1818, was 6,179,330
quintals or saas of Barbary, which are equal to 7,415,390
fanegues $.]
[Footnote 152: Genesis, xli. 9.--"And Joseph gathered corn as
the sand of the sea very much."]
[Footnote 153: I descended into a mitfere in the Arab province
of Duquella, and remained there whilst the Arab explained to me
the mode of constructing them; this was near the douar of Woled
Aisah (see the map): it had just been emptied, and produced
3450 saas or quintals.]
[Footnote 154: Genesis, xli. 48.]
[Footnote 155: The result of this anti-commercial system is,
that corn is dearer than it was during the exportation. Many
millions of acres of the finest and most productive land lies
fallow for want of a market for its produce; indeed, the
produce has sometimes been so low for want of a market, that I
have known instances of the corn having been left standing, not
being worth the expense of reaping. Now this prohibition
undoubtedly will appear to many intelligent readers bad policy
in his Imperial Majesty, but it is nevertheless consistent
policy. The _sine qua non_ of the court of Marocco is to keep
the inhabitants poor. It is asserted by the political
economists of this country, that the Arab should not have more
than sufficient to feed and clothe him; every thing beyond this
turns to evil, and is an incentive to rebellion: the superflux,
they maintain, should go to (_Beit el melh d'el muselmen_,) the
Muselman treasury.]
A wine company, consisting of gentlemen of practical experience in
that branch of business, might form a most beneficial establishment
212 at Santa Cruz, whither the grapes of Edautenan are brought to
market, and other grapes from the Arab countries, of exquisite
quality and flavour, infinitely superior in richness, size, and
flavour to those of Spain and Portugal, or any part of Italy;
indeed, I have no hesitation in declaring, (without fear of
contradiction,) that this country produces the finest grapes,
oranges, and pomegranates in the world, and in the greatest
abundance. I have myself tasted at Marocco, at a Hebrew Rabbi's
table, excellent imitations of burgundy, claret, champagne,
madeira, and rhenish, or old hock, all the produce of grapes reared
in the plains of that city, and in the adjacent mountains. The port
of Santa Cruz, if purchased of the Emperor by the English, would,
besides securing the trade to Sudan, and the interior of Africa,
supply the London market with abundance of all these excellent
wines.
213
DOMESTIC SERPENTS OF MAROCCO.
Every house in Marocco has, or ought to have, a domestic serpent: I
say ought to have, because those that have not one, seek to have
this inmate, by treating it hospitably whenever one appears; they
leave out food for it to eat during the night, which gradually
domiciliates this reptile. These serpents are reported to be
extremely sagacious, and very susceptible. The superstition of
these people is extraordinary; for rather than offend these
serpents, they will suffer their women to be exposed during sleep
to their performing the office of an infant. They are considered,
in a house, emblematical of good, or prosperity, as their absence
is ominous of evil. They are not often visible; but I have seen
them passing over the beams of the roof of the apartments. A friend
of mine was just retired to bed at Marocco, when he heard a noise
in the room, like something crawling over his head, he arose,
looked about the room, and discovered one of these reptiles about
four feet long, of a dark colour, he pricked it with his sword, and
killed it, then returned to bed. In the morning he called to him
the master of the house where he was a guest, and telling him he
had attacked the serpent, the Jew was chagrined, and expostulated
with him, for the injury he had done him: apprehensive that evil
would visit him, he intimated to his guest, that he hoped he would
leave his house, as he feared the malignity of the serpent; and he
was not reconciled until my friend discovered to him that he had
actually killed the reptile.
214