medicines; requested to report upon them; and questioned as to the
progress of medical science. I spoke of the countries I had visited,
and was assured that I should find more to be pleased with in my
reception here. I was then asked to feel the Minister’s pulse,
and report on his health; then to know if I would examine his black
ladies, two of whom were but so-so,—a pretty job! I played my
part well. Orders were given that no one be admitted. I was then
told that the Lieutenant-Governor of the Meshwar[146] would come in
the morning, and take me to all the Sultan’s palaces and gardens,
and that a guard would be at my command whenever I wished to go
out. I shall describe all these to you when I get home. I am under
a strict espionage, and worried to death with patients. I saw the
Sultan whilst passing through his palace, and have received his
orders to visit him on Friday. His favourite wife is ill, and the
difficulty is how to let me see her. I have refused to prescribe for
her, without. The court physician is here twice a-day, and I have
assisted him in one or two cases, and he thinks there never was such
a doctor. A Seidlitz powder astonished him beyond all belief. I go
next week to Atlas to visit some strange cities inhabited by Jews. Of
these I shall write to his Royal Highness. El Hadge is here again,
to say the Sultán has sent him to say that five of his guard will
be here in the morning to conduct me to the great markets, and after
this to an inspection of the cavalry, and to ask if anything can be
done to make me more comfortable.”
Notwithstanding his incessant and wearisome occupation as both
physician and apothecary to the Maroquine Court, Mr. Davidson found
leisure for scientific inquiries, not forgetting those to which his
attention had been particularly directed by H. R. H. the President of
the Royal Society, who with his well-known condescension had desired
this enterprising traveller to correspond with him. The result of
his first inquiries was communicated in these terms:—
“_Morocco, 3d February,_ 1836.
“SIR,—I have deferred taking advantage of your Royal Highness’s
condescension in permitting me to address you, hoping that I should
’ere this have made my excursion to the five villages in the valley
of the Southern Atlas inhabited by Jews, who differ much from any
I have yet met with. Hitherto I have been able to glean but little
from the few who visit the city, which is principally supplied by them
with charcoal; but having this day received the Sultan’s permission
to proceed and to continue my journey to Wadnoon (from which place I
hope to join a caravan now collecting, to proceed to Soudan), should
I succeed in this, I should not have an opportunity of addressing
your Royal Highness; an honour of which I shall ever feel most proud.
“The Jews of Atlas are far superior, both physically and morally, to
their brethren residing among the Moors. Their families are numerous,
and each of these is under the immediate protection of a Berber (the
aboriginal inhabitants of North Africa), patron, or master. They have,
however, their own Sheik, a Jew, to whose jurisdiction all matters
are referred. Differing from the Jews residing amongst the Moors, who
are punished by the Mussulman laws, they are not in the same state
of debasement or servitude; their case is one of patron and client,
and all enjoy equal privileges, and the Berber is bound to take
up the cause of the Jew upon all emergencies. They all carry arms,
and serve by turns with their patrons. They state [that] they did
not go to the Babylonish captivity; that they possess many writings;
that they have a city cut out of the solid rock, with rooms above
rooms, in which they dwelt upon [their] first coming to this country;
and that there are some writings carved in these rocks which they
attribute to some early Christians who came and drove them into
the valley [which] they now inhabit. As I purpose making some few
days’ stay amongst them, under the plea of searching for medicinal
plants, I hope to be able to furnish your Royal Highness with some
interesting particulars respecting these people, and to discover
if these reports be true. I have received an invitation from their
patriarch, who wishes to be informed the day before I visit them;
it being his intention (having heard I had paid some attention to the
sick Jews residing here) to come out to meet me. Your Royal Highness
will scarcely credit the ignorance and debasement of the Jews of
Morocco. The chief of the Millah, their quarter, was astonished to
hear that the Bible used by the Christians contained the Psalms of
David; and much more so, to hear that the Psalms were sung daily
in our churches. I have endeavoured in vain to learn anything from
them on your Royal Highness’s question as to the change of their
time. I have been detained above a month in this city, owing to
the indisposition of the Sultan, and the sickness of many of his
favourites, and have been appointed court-physician. My stock of
medicines is nearly exhausted, and having to see, upon an average,
fifty patients a day, and compound the whole of the medicines myself,
my own health has begun to suffer. Although I am fed from the royal
table, I have no time to take my food; my patients coming at break
of day, and remaining till dark; and I am seldom able to prepare
the necessary medicines before midnight.
“I have a respite, if it may be so called, having to go to the
Sultan every morning, but then all his ladies have something to
ask for; and before I see his Highness I have to write from the
mouths of the eunuchs all the ladies’ complaints, and bring them
something the next day. This is unknown to his Highness, to whom
I have respectfully refused to prescribe, unless I can [see] my
patients. The head-physician has been ordered to spend two hours
a-day in my room, to learn my treatment, and his son is to come in
the evening, and see the mode of compounding medicines. The common
Moorish doctors, who have but one remedy, firing, have been sent to
perform their cures before me; I have had to make a report upon the
state of medical science in all the countries I have visited, and to
examine the few medicines they use, and state my opinions. Having
accidentally stated [that] I believed many of their complaints
arose from the manner of preparing their food, I have had to taste
all the Sultan’s dishes, to mix simple drinks for him, and to
look at the soil in which his vegetables are cultivated. But all
to no purpose; they prefer their own plan to any recommendation of
mine. I am happy, however, to inform your Royal Highness, that by
strictly complying with their wishes, and having been more than
[ordinarily] fortunate in my practice, I have made many friends,
succeeded in removing suspicion, and obtained from the Sultán the
promise of every assistance. He has presented me with a fine horse,
given me a guard of ten soldiers, and promised me one hundred to
escort me to Wadnoon, where his territory finishes. I am in treaty
with the Sheik of Wadnoon, having offered him one thousand dollars
if he will ensure my life to Timbuctoo; and the only difference
now is between accident or climate. But as I well know that every
accident will be construed into climate, I will not pay the sum till
he places me in the city. I beg now most respectfully to present my
humble duty to your Royal Highness, and with my fervent prayers that
your Royal Highness’s health may be perfectly established,
“I have the honour to remain,
“Your Royal Highness’s very obedient, humble servant,
“JOHN DAVIDSON.”
Early in March, 1836, the Emperor’s health having been restored,
his English physician was at length permitted to travel, not, as he
wished, to the S.E., but to the S.W.; the route by Tâfilêlt being
interdicted by the good-will or jealousy of the Sultán. Mr. Davidson,
however, was prepared for this disappointment, and had already taken
steps to secure a good reception among the Arabs of Wád Nún, on
the north-western border of the Sahrá. On the 7th of March, 1836,
he announced his arrival at Agadir, or Santa Cruz, in a letter to
his brother, which has furnished the following extracts:—
“I was detained by the snow after leaving Morocco. . . . My
reception and stay at court has surprised everybody. I have the
most favourable promises of support and assistance, but do not
believe quite all that is said, the Sultán having made me promise
to return to his empire, and pass some months at Fez, or Mequinez,
to instruct his people in the practice of medicine. Leaving Morocco,
I attempted the ascent of Atlas, at Trasremoot, but at the elevation
of five thousand feet was compelled by the snow to descend. This led
me to visit a line of country as yet unseen by Europeans. I inspected
more than one hundred villages of Jews and Berbers, was well treated,
and orders had been given that at each principal place the governor
should come out to meet me with his people under arms; that the
principal towns should furnish three hundred fowls, ten sheep, and
ten ducats for my maintenance, and provide barley for my horses and
mules, and those of my soldiers. At the places where I only passed,
the chief of the Jews were to come and make offerings of milk and
wine; the former being changed from the primitive or patriarchal
offering of bread. These I had to touch and pour a little of each
on my horse’s mane. This done, food, both raw and dressed, was
offered; and after a sort of song, I was suffered to proceed. At all
the valleys they were desired to bring me the productions, and to
show me any and all plants used as food or medicines; and on these
I had to pronounce an opinion.
“My practice as a medical man has been so fortunate, and my
distribution of medicines so general, that I have had work to answer
even the questions. During my stay in Morocco, twelve hundred persons
passed through my hands, and I had, at one time, the Sultán, several
of his Ladies, the whole of the Ministry, the Cadi and Judicial Corps,
the Commander of the Forces, and the Four Great Saints, Seedy Ben
Abbas, Seedy Abdel Kader, Seedy Bush Eid, and Seedy Omberak,[147]
under my care. The Zaire, of whom I wrote to you, and who intended to
make me their prisoner, have broken into open warfare, and the people
here are only waiting for the Sultán’s departure for the north to
commence a disturbance. These people are all favourable to letting
me pass, and the Suses and the Waled Abusebas,[148] whom I had been
told to fear, have sent to beg of me to come on. My present difficulty
is to get out of this empire. I have the Sultán’s order to remain
at Terodant,[149] he having no power to protect me beyond this; but
Sheik Beirock, of Wadnoon, informs he will; and had I not applied to
the Sultán for a letter of protection, he would have taken me and
passed me across the Desert, provided I would pay him a consideration.
“He will send me by a route used only by his couriers; but for this,
at this season, I must take water and provision for two months, and
send on some dromedaries, which will be posted about midway, where I
have to halt; and by leaving my tired ones, and proceeding without
a stop, I shall be able to pass before the Tuaricks have knowledge
of my arrival. All this I feel I can do; but my companion, Abou, is,
I am afraid, quite unequal to it. Sheik Beirock’s brother, who is
with me, tells me Abou will be a safe passport for me, as soon as
I arrive in Soudan: that one of his family is the present Sheik of
Timbuctoo, and that his cousin, the son of Abou’s uncle, from whom
he was stolen, is now the king of Houssa. He was fully acknowledged
at Morocco, and my dragoman had orders from the palace to treat him
with respect, as he was a Muley (prince). How we shall get on, I know
not. I shall write one letter after I know the Sultán’s intention,
but if you should not hear for some months, you may rest satisfied
[that] I have passed Wadnoon. I feel that the same Providence which
has hitherto preserved and protected me, will guard me through all
the difficulties and dangers I am about to encounter. Should I not
get on, I shall make a virtue of necessity, return to the Sultán at
Fez, and make the best excuse to get to Tâfilêlt. I am, thank God,
quite well, and have commenced training, taking two spare meals a-day,
living principally on bread, rice, eggs, and weak tea; no wine, and
very rarely meat; exposing myself much to the sun, and sleeping in
the air.”
The Sultán had commanded Mr. Davidson to wait at Téródánt,
the capital of Sús el aksá, about forty miles south-east of Santa
Cruz, till he should be able to afford him a secure protection in
his progress southwards: but a correspondence already established
by the traveller with the Arab chief of Wád Nún, who is in name
only subject to the emperor, and has the power of securing a passage
across the desert, and impatience of further detention after so long
a delay, made him anxiously entreat permission to advance as far as
Wád Nún, and instead of remaining at Téródánt,[150] he repaired
to Suweïrah or Mogador, about seventy miles due north of Santa Cruz,
where he had the advantage of enjoying the society of Mr. Willshire,
British Vice-Consul, on whose aid in promoting his views he knew he
could rely. From that place he had again an opportunity of addressing
the Duke of Sussex.
“_Mogador, March 18th,_ 1836.
“SIR,—After a fruitless attempt to cross the western branch
of Mount Atlas, owing to the unusual quantity of snow, I have been
obliged to come to this place, which affords me another opportunity
of taking advantage of your Royal Highness’s condescension
in permitting me to address you. Having received the Sultán’s
consent to cross the mountains for the purpose of visiting the Jews,
I left Morocco for Mesfywa, and taking the route by Trasremoot,
reached an elevation of 5,000 feet; but here the loose character of
the snow, and the uncertainty of the track, obliged me to abandon
my project. I was accompanied in this journey by a Rabbi, from the
district of Coubba or Cobba, to which place it was my intention to
have proceeded. From this man I received much curious information,
and have yet great hopes of reaching the people of whom he spoke, and
to whom he belongs, before I return to England. He informed me that in
this place, nearly as extensive as that in which the city of Morocco
is situated, there are not less than 3,000 or 4,000 Jews living in
perfect freedom, and following every variety of occupation; that they
have mines and quarries which they work, possess large gardens and
extensive vineyards, and cultivate more corn than they can possibly
consume; that they have a form of government, and have possessed this
soil from the time of Solomon; in proof of which he stated [that]
they possess a record bearing the signet and sign of Joab, who came
to collect tribute from them in the time of the son of David; that
the tradition of their arrival here runs thus:—‘Crossing the
Great Sea to avoid the land of Egypt, they came to a head of land
with a river; that here they landed, and following the course of
this leading westward, but going toward the south, they came to a
spot where they found twelve wells and seventy palm-trees. This at
first led them to suppose that they had by some means got to Elim;
but finding the mountains on the west, they were satisfied that they
had reached a new country: finding a passage over the mountains, they
crossed and took up their dwelling in this valley, first in caves,
which exist in great numbers, then in others which they excavated,
and after this began to build towns; that at a distant period,
they were driven across the mountains by a people that would not
acknowledge them, and that some remained at Diminet, Mesfywa,
and other places on the western side of the range.’ Looking at
the map, and following this man’s observations, it is perfectly
easy to trace them. They must have reached the gulf of Tremesen, and
taking the river Muluwia, or Mahala, have reached Tâfilêlt, where,
to this day, are twelve wells planted round with seventy palm-trees,
and which many of the Jews call Elim; and from this they [must] have
taken the pass to which I attempted to get. Knowing the interest your
Royal Highness takes in all that refers to the history of the Jews,
I have offered this man fifty dollars to obtain a copy of the record
upon a skin of the same size and pattern as that which contains it,
and ten dollars for the copy of two tombstones to which the Jews make
their pilgrimages, and these he promises to send to the Jew agent
in Morocco in six months, provided I do not in the mean time visit
Coubba. On asking him, if at any period they had a great accession
to their number, or if he knew anything of the breaking off of the
tribes, he seemed anxious to drop the subject, and told me that the
more learned men whom I should see at Coubba could better inform me;
that from time to time, Jews came to them, but that these tombs and
the writings they possess contain all their history. This man returned
with me. I was most anxious to know the meaning of the names of some
of the towns: he told me what the Moors call Mesfywa is Oom Siwá,
the Mother of Siwá,[151] one of their families which crossed [the
mountains]; that Ourïka[152] of the Moors, distant thirty miles,
was ’Rebka, founded by one of their daughters, and that most of
these places had originally Hebrew names. At Ourïka he left me. I
continued for eight days to visit the towns inhabited by the Jews,
to the number of above one hundred, and I should say that on this
side there are more Jews dwelling with the Berbers in the mountains
than resident in Morocco. They have all the same account of Coubba,
and have a great belief in the Cabāllists, who they say still exist,
and who receive direct communication from Heaven. I here send your
Royal Highness a few of the names of the principal towns, but having
lost my Rabbi interpreter, cannot procure the meaning of them: Argum,
Rōōsempt, Towra, Towright, Ai Tattab, Tamazert, Zowisiderhald,
Tedēēli, Tisgin (very large, two hundred families), A Mismish
(one hundred and fifty families), Sefélmal, to the town on the Wad
el Fis.”
The remainder of this letter is taken up with an account of a singular
physiological phenomenon, if Mr. Davidson was not misled by erroneous
information. He says that he had been told hermaphrodites are found
in great numbers in the empire of Morocco, that they are avoided
as impure, and specially mentioned in the Muselman law; that the
Sultán’s minister, Sídí Ibn Idrís, one of the best-informed
persons in the empire, assured him that there are numbers of them at
Fez. The only individual called a khunthá, or hermaphrodite, whom
Mr. Davidson had an opportunity of examining, was one of those cases
of imperfect formation which are occasionally met with in Europe.
At the close of the above letter he adds, “I am happy to inform
your Royal Highness that I have the greatest support from Ben
Dríss in favour of my proceeding to Soudan; and he hopes the
Sultán will order my return by Tâfilêlt to Fez. I have completed
my arrangements with the Sheik of Wád Nún, who undertakes, for a
sum which I deposit in the hands of the consul here, Mr. Willshire,
who has managed the matter with great judgment, to place me safely
in Timbuctoo, provided the Sultán of Morocco does not object. I
only wait the answer to the letters sent to make this request. My
companion Abou’s family is still on the throne of Timbuctoo; Hamed
Libboo, the present king, being one of his cousins, and Fehidier,
king of Houssa, another of his relations, and Woled Munsor Enēēloo,
king of Bambara, is well known to him.”
In the month of April, 1836, Mr. Willshire, H. B. Majesty’s
vice-consul in the empire of Morocco, received the emperor’s royal
passport for Davidson and his companion to proceed from Agadeer to
Wád Nún, in consequence of which they immediately set out, and
reached that place on the 22nd of April,[153] but as no caravan was
then likely to be assembled, they were long detained in that sultry
region. During this interval Mr. Davidson again addressed the Duke
of Sussex.
“_Tekínecou. Wadnoon, 3d July,_ 1836.