CHAPTER I.

TRAVELS IN MOROCCO,

BY THE LATE JAMES RICHARDSON,

AUTHOR OF "A MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA,"

"TRAVELS IN THE DESERT OF SAHARA," &C.

EDITED BY HIS WIDOW.

[Illustration]

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

INTRODUCTION.

Having made a limited tour in the Empire of Morocco a few years since, I

am enabled to appreciate the information imparted to us by the lamented

Richardson, and am desirous of adding a few observations of my own upon

the present state of affairs in that part of the African Continent.

The following work of the indefatigable traveller demands, at the

present moment, a more than ordinary share of public attention, in

consequence of the momentous events now passing in the Straits of

Gibraltar, where the presence of powerful armaments entails on the

Governor of our great rock-fortress, a duty of some delicacy, situated

as he now is in close proximity to three belligerent powers, all of whom

are at peace with Great Britain. But distinguished alike for common

sense and professional ability, Sir William Codrington, it is to be

hoped, will steer clear of the follies committed by Sir Robert Wilson in

1844, and will command respect for the British name, without provoking

bitter feelings between ourselves, and our French and Spanish

neighbours.

It is scarcely possible that either France or Spain can contemplate the

conquest of the entire Empire of Morocco, as the result of the present

impending crisis, the superficial extent of the territory being 219,420

square miles, and the population nearly 8,000,000, [1] of which a large

proportion live in a state of perpetual warfare, occupying inaccessible

mountain fastnesses, from whence they only descend to the plains for the

sake of plunder. The inhabitants may be classified as follows: 4,000,000

Moors and Arabs; 2,000,000 Berbers; 500,000 Jews, and the remainder are

of the Negro race. The regular Army consists of less than thirty

thousand men, but every Arab is an expert irregular horseman, and the

Berbers make good foot-soldiers.

These indeed are, in ordinary times, rarely to be depended on by the

Emperor, but so powerful an incentive is religious fanaticism that, were

he to raise the standard of the Holy War, a large Army would quickly

rally around him, deficient perhaps in discipline, yet living by

plunder, and marching without the encumbrance of baggage, it would prove

a formidable opponent.

Let us, however, suppose, that the present action of France and Spain

should result in the subversion of the atrocious system of Government

practised in Morocco: a guarantee from the conquerors that our existing

commercial privileges should be respected, would alone be required to

ensure the protection of our interests, and what an extended field would

the facilities for penetrating into the interior open to us! We must

also remember that Napoleon III. in heart, is a free-trader; and, should

Destiny ever appoint him the arbiter of Morocco, the protectionist

pressure of a certain deluded class in France would be impotent against

his policy in Western Barbary, a country perhaps more hostile to the

European than China. Sailors and others, who have had the misfortune to

be cast on the inhospitable shore of Northern Africa, have been sent far

inland into slavery to drag out a miserable existence; and, at this

moment, there are many white Christian slaves in the southern and

eastern provinces of the Empire.

Should the war not result in conquest, the least we have a right to

expect, is that toleration should be forced upon the Moors, and that

European capital and labour should be allowed a free development

throughout their Empire. A flourishing trade would soon spring up,

nature having blessed Barbary with an excellent soil and climate,

besides vast mineral wealth in its mountains; lead, copper, and antimony

are found in them. The plains produce corn, rice, and indigo; the

forests of cedar, ilex, cork, and olive-trees are scattered over a vast

extent, and contain antelopes, wild bears, and other species of game;

Barbary also possesses an excellent breed of horses. The principal

manufactures are leather, shawls and carpets.

England has, but a short time since, succeeded in emancipating her

Jewish brethren from their few remaining disabilities; an opportunity

may now be at hand, of ameliorating the condition of those in the Empire

of Morocco, who are forced to submit to a grinding persecution, and are

merely tolerated because they are useful. They supply many wants of the

Moorish population; are the best, and in many handicrafts, the only

artificers, and are much employed by the government in financial

occupations. They are compelled to occupy a distinct quarter of the town

they inhabit; are permitted only to wear black garments, are forbidden

to ride, the horse being considered too noble an animal to carry a Jew,

and are forced to take off their shoes on passing a mosque. Even the

little Moorish boys strike and ill-treat them in various ways, and the

slightest attempt at retaliation was formerly punished with death, and

would now be visited with the bastinado. They are more heavily taxed

than any other class, and special contributions are often levied on

them.

Alas! why should we respect the national existence of any community of

Mahometans? Have we effaced from our memory their treachery and inhuman

cruelty in India; their utter worthlessness in Turkey; their neglect in

taking advantage of the richness with which nature has blest the

countries in their possession; and their conquest from Christendom of

one of the fairest portions of Europe.

Civilization cries aloud for retribution on a race whose religion

teaches them to regard us as "dogs." Surely, far from protecting and

cherishing, we should hunt them out of the fair lands they occupy, and

force them back on the deserts which vomited them forth on our ancestors

ten centuries ago. Brief periods of glory at Bagdad, Cairo, and Granada,

should not protect those who are now slaves to the lowest vices that

degrade human nature. No administrative reforms are at all practicable;

their moral maladies have attacked the vital element; the sole cure is

conquest, and the substitution of Christian Governments in Northern

Africa, and Turkey in Europe and Asia. Russia, France, Austria, Greece,

and Spain are weary of the excesses of their savage neighbours; none can

be honestly inclined to stay their avenging swords.

I have, in these prefatory remarks, extracted a few particulars from the

short chapter on Morocco, contained in my work on the "French in

Africa," and in advocating a crusade against the Mahometan races, I

believe I am recording the sentiments of millions of Europeans.

It now only remains for me to give expression to that universal feeling

of regret which prevails among my countrymen at the untimely fate of

poor Richardson, and to offer my congratulations that he has bequeathed

to us so pleasing an addition to his former works as the following

narrative of his "Travels in Morocco."

L. TRENT CAVE, F.R.G.S.

Author of "The French in Africa."

Army and Navy Club,

November, 1859.

PREFACE.

The present unsettled state of affairs in Morocco, in consequence of the

War in which she is now engaged with her more powerful and ancient

enemy--Spain, must, I conceive, render any information regarding a

region so little known peculiarly acceptable at the present moment.

In Morocco, my late husband laboured to advance the same objects which

had previously taken him to Central Africa, viz., the amelioration of

the condition of the strange and remarkable races of men who inhabit

that part of the world. He aimed at the introduction of a legitimate

commerce with a view, in the first instance, to destroy the horrible and

revolting trade in slaves, and thus pave the way for the diffusion of

Christianity among a benighted people. While travelling, with these high

purposes in contemplation, he neglected no opportunity of studying the

geography of the country, and of obtaining an insight into the manners,

customs, prejudices, and sentiments of its inhabitants, as well as any

other useful information in relation to it.

I accompanied him on his travels in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, in

which last city he left me, it not being considered advisable that I

should proceed with him into the interior of the country. We were not

destined to meet again in this world. My beloved husband died at Bornou,

in Central Africa, whither he was sent by Her Majesty's Government to

enter into treaties with the chiefs of the surrounding districts.

Of the many difficulties and dangers which the traveller is likely to

encounter in penetrating into the interior of so inhospitable a region,

the reader may form some idea by a perusal of the the following extracts

from my husband's writings.

"I am very much of opinion that in African travel we should take

especial care not to attempt too much at once; that we should proceed

very slowly, feeling our way, securing ourselves against surprise, and

reducing and confining our explorations to the record of matters of fact

as far as possible, or consistently with a due illustration of the

narrative. But, whether we attempt great tours, or short journeyings, we

shall soon find, by our own sad experience, that African travel can only

be successfully prosecuted piecemeal, bit by bit, here a little and

there a little, now an island, now a line of coast, now an inland

province, now a patch of desert, and slow and painful in all their

results, whilst few explorers will ever be able to undertake more than

two, at most three, inland journeys.

"Failures, disasters, and misadventure may attend our efforts of

discovery; the intrepid explorers may perish, as they have so frequently

done, or be scalped by the Indian savage in the American wilderness, or

stabbed by the treacherous Bedouin of Asiatic deserts, or be stretched

stiff in the icy dreary Polar circles, or, succumbing to the burning

clime of Africa, leave their bones to bleach upon its arid sandy wastes;

yet these victims of enterprise will add more to a nation's glory than

its hoarded heaps of gold, or the great gains of its commerce, or even

the valour of its arms.

"Nevertheless, geographical discovery is not barren ardour, or wasted

enthusiasm; it produces substantial fruits. The fair port of London,

with its two parallel forests of masts, bears witness to the rich and

untold treasures which result from the traffic of our merchant-fleets

with the isles and continents discovered by the genius and enterprise of

the maritime or inland explorer. And, finally, we have always in view

the complete regeneration of the world, by our laws, our learning, and

our religion. If every valley is to be raised, and every mountain laid

low, by the spade and axe of industry, guided by science, the valley or

the mountain must first be discovered.

"If men are to be civilized, they must first be found; and if other, or

the remaining tribes of the inhabitable earth are to acknowledge the

true God, and accept His favour as known to us, they also, with

ourselves, must have an opportunity of hearing His name pronounced, and

His will declared."

My husband would, indeed, have rejoiced had he lived to witness the

active steps now taken by Oxford and Cambridge for sending out

Missionaries to Central Africa, to spread the light of the Gospel.

Among his unpublished letters, I find one addressed to the Christian

Churches, entitled "Project for the establishment of a Christian Mission

at Bornou," dated October, 1849. He writes: "The Christian Churches have

left Central Africa now these twelve centuries in the hands of the

Mohammedans, who, in different countries, have successfully propagated

the false doctrines of the impostor of Mecca. If the Christian Churches

wish to vindicate the honour of their religion--to diffuse its

beneficent and heavenly doctrines--and to remove from themselves the

severe censure of having abandoned Central Africa to the false prophet,

I believe there is now an opening, _viâ_ Bornou, to attempt the

establishment of their faith in the heart of Africa."

He ends his paper by quoting the words of Ignatius Pallme, a Bohemian,

the writer of travels in Kordofan, who says "It is high time for the

Missionary Societies in Europe to direct their attention to this part of

Africa (that is, Kordofan). If they delay much longer, it will be too

late; for, when the negroes have once adopted the Koran, no power on

earth can induce them to change their opinions. I have heard, through

several authentic sources, that there are few provinces in the interior

of Africa where Mohammedanism has not already begun to gain a footing."

It would be a great solace to me should this work be received

favourably, and be deemed to reflect honour on the memory of my lamented

husband; and, in the hope that such may be the case, I venture to commit

it into the hands of an indulgent public.

J.E. RICHARDSON.

London,

November 15, 1859.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME

INTRODUCTION

PREFACE

CHAPTER I.

Policy of the Court of Morocco.--Its strength.--Diploplomatic Intercourse

with England.--Distrust of Europeans.--Commercial Relations.

CHAPTER II.

Arrival at Tangier.--Moorish Pilgrims in Cordova.--Address of the

Anti-Slavery Society.--Mr. D. Hay, British Consul.--Institut

d'Afrique.--Conveyance of Eunuchs in vessels under the French

Flag.--Franco-Moorish Politics.--Corn Monopolies in Morocco.--Love and

veneration for the English name--Celebration of the Ayd-Kebir, or great

festival.--Value of Money in Morocco.--Juvenile Strolling

Singer.--General account of the city of Tangier.--Intercourse between

the Moorish Emperor and the Foreign Consuls.--Cockney sportsmen.--The

degrading of high Moorish Functionaries.--How we smuggle Cattle from

Tangier to Gibraltar.--The Blood-letting of plethoric Placemen.

CHAPTER III.

The Posada.--Ingles and Benoliel.--Amulets for successful

parturition.--Visits of a Moorish Taleb and a Berber.--Three Sundays

during a week in Barbary.--M. Rey's account of the Empire of

Morocco.--The Government Auctioneer gives an account of Slavery and the

Slave Trade in Morocco.--Benoliel as English Cicerone.--Departure from

Tangier to Gibraltar.--How I lost my fine green broad-cloth.--Mr.

Frenerry's opinion of Maroquine Affairs.

CHAPTER IV.

Departure from Gibraltar to Mogador.--The Straits.--Genoese

Sailors.--Trade-wind Hurricanes on the Atlantic Coast of

Morocco.--Difficulties of entering the Port of Mogador.--Bad

provisioning of Foreign Merchantmen.--The present Representative of the

once far-famed and dreaded Rovers.--Disembarkation at Mogador.--Mr.

Phillips, Captain of the Port.--Rumours amongst the People about my

Mission.--Visit to the Cemeteries.--Maroquine Wreckers.--Health of the

inhabitants of Mogador.--Moorish Cavaliers "playing at powder" composed

of the ancient Numidians.--The Barb.--The Life Guards of the Moorish

Emperor.--Martial character of the Negro.--Some account of the Black

Corps of the Shereefs.--Orthodoxy of the Shereefs, and illustrative

anecdotes of the various Emperors.

CHAPTER V.

Several visits from the Moors; their ideas on soldiers and payment of

public functionaries.--Mr. Cohen and his opinion on Maroquine affairs.--

Phlebotomising of Governors, and Ministerial responsibility.--Border

Travels of the Shedma and Hhaha tribes.--How the Emperor enriches

himself by the quarrels of his subjects.--Message from the Emperor

respecting the Anti-Slavery Address.--Difficulties of travelling through

or residing in the Interior.--Use of Knives, and Forks, and Chairs are

signs of Social Progress.--Account of the periodical visit of the

Mogador Merchants to the Emperor, in the Southern Capital.

CHAPTER VI.

Influence of French Consuls.--Arrival of the Governor of Mogador from

the Capital; he brings an order to imprison the late Governor; his

character, and mode of administering affairs.--Statue of a Negress at

the bottom of a well.--Spanish Renegades.--Various Wedding Festivals of

Jews.--Frequent Fêtes and Feastings among the Jewish population of

Morocco.--Scripture Illustration, "Behold the Bridegroom

cometh!"--Jewish Renegades.--How far women have souls.--Infrequency of

Suicides.

CHAPTER VII.

Interview with the Governor of Mogador, on the Address of the Anti-Slavery

Society.--Day and night side of the Mission Adventure.--Phillips'

application to be allowed to stand with his "shoes on" before the

Shereefian presence.--Case of the French Israelite, Darmon, who was

killed by the Government.--Order of the Government against Europeans

smoking in the streets.--Character of Haj Mousa, Governor of

Mazagran.--Talmudical of a Sousee Jew.--False weights amongst the

Mogador Merchants.--Rumours of war from the North, and levy of

troops.--Bragadocio of the Governor.--Mr. Authoris's opinion on the

state of of the Country.--Moorish opinions on English Abolition.--

European Slavery in Southern Morocco.--Spanish Captives and the London

Ironmongers Company.--Sentiments of Barbary Jews on Slavery.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. I.

Interior of a Moorish House

City of Tangier

Port of Mogador

Christian Burial Place

Moorish Cemetery

Nubian Cavalry of Ancient Africa

Wadnoun

VOL. II.

The Snake-Charmer

City of Morocco

Fish found in Hot Springs

Water-Snake

The Aoudad

TRAVELS IN MOROCCO.

CHAPTER I.

Policy of the Court of Morocco.--Its strength.--Diplomatic Intercourse

with England.--Distrust of Europeans.--Commercial Relations.

Morocco is the China of North Africa. The grand political maxim of the

Shereefian Court is, the exclusion of strangers; to look upon all

strangers with distrust and suspicion; and should they, at any time,

attempt to explore the interior of Morocco, or any of the adjacent

counties, to thwart and circumvent their enterprise, is a veritable feat

of statesmanship in the opinion of the Shereefian Court. The

assassination of Mr. Davidson, some years since, is an odious and

enduring stigma on the Moorish Court, notwithstanding the various

efforts which have been made to deny the personal responsibility of the

Emperor in that transaction.

The Prince de Joinville was once going to open Morocco, as we opened

China; but bullets and shot which his Royal Highness showered upon

Tangier and Mogador, only closed faster the approaches and routes of

this well-guarded empire--only more hermetically sealed the capitals of

Fez and Morocco against the prying or morbid curiosity of the tourist,

or the mappings and measurings of the political spy. The striking

anecdote, illustrating the exclusive policy of the Maroquine Court, is

familiar to all who have read the history of the Moorish Sultans of the

Mugreb. Years ago, a European squadron threatened to bombard Tangier,

unless their demands were instantly satisfied; and the then reigning

Sultan sent down from Fez this imperial message:

"How much will the enemy give me if I myself burn to ashes my

well-beloved city of Tangier? Tell the enemy, O governor of the mighty

city of Tangier, that I can reduce this self-same city to a heap of

smoking ruins, at a much cheaper rate than he can, with all his ships,

his warlike machines, and his fighting men."

The strength of Morocco lies in her internal cities, her inland

population, and the natural difficulties of her territory; about her

coast she cares little; but the French did not find this out till after

their bombardments. The unwonted discovery led them afterwards to boast

that they had at length opened Morocco by the other and opposite system

of a pacific mission. The parties forming the mission, pretended to have

obtained from the Emperor permission for Europeans "to travel in Morocco

without let or hindrance whithersoever they will." But the opposition

press justly ridiculed the pretensions of the alleged concession, as the

precarious and barren result of a mission costing several million of

francs. Even an Englishman, but much more a Frenchman--and the latter is

especially hated and dreaded in all the Maroquine provinces, would have

considerably hesitated in placing confidence in the safe conduct of this

jealous Court.

The spirit of the Christian West, which has invaded the most secret

councils of the Eastern world, Persia, Turkey, and all the countries

subjected to Ottoman rule, is still excluded by the haughty Shereefs of

the Mahometan West. There is scarcely any communication between the port

and the court of the Shereefs, and the two grand masters of orthodox

Islamism, this of the West, and that of the East, are nearly strangers

to each other.

All that Muley Errahman has to do with the East, appears to be to

procure eunuchs and Abyssinian concubines for his harem from Egypt, and

send forward his most faithful, or most rebellious subjects [2] on their

pilgrimage to Mecca.

Englishmen are surprised, that the frequent visits and uninterrupted

communications between Morocco and Gibraltar, during so long a period,

should have produced scarcely a perceptible change in the minds of the

Moors, and that Western Barbary should be a century behind Tunis. This

circumstance certainly does not arise from any inherent inaptitude in

the Moorish character to entertain friendly relations with Europeans,

and can only have resulted from that crouching and subservient policy

which the Gibraltar authorities have always judged it expedient to show

towards the Maroquines.

Our diplomatic intercourse began with Morocco in the reign of Queen

Elizabeth; and though on friendly terms more or less ever since,

Englishmen have not yet obtained a recognised permission to travel in

the interior of the country, without first specially applying to its

Government. Our own countrymen know little of Morocco, or of its

inhabitants, customs, laws, and government; and, though only five or six

days sail from England, it must be regarded as an unknown and unexplored

region to the mass of the English nation.

Nevertheless, in spite of the Maroquine Empire being the most

conservative and unchangeable of all North African Mussulman states, and

whilst, happily for itself, it has been allowed to pursue its course

obscurely and noiselessly, without exciting particular attention in

Europe, or being involved in the wars and commotions of European

nations, Morocco is not, therefore, beyond the reach of changes and the

ravages of time, nor exempt from that mutability which is impressed upon

all sublunary states. The bombardments of Tangier and Mogador have left

behind them traces not easily to be effaced. It was no ordinary event

for Morocco to carry on hostilities with an European power.

The battle of Isly has deeply wounded the Shereefians, and incited the

Mussulman heart to sullen and unquenchable revenge. A change has come

over the Maroquine mind, which, as to its immediate effects, is

evidently for the worst towards us Christians. The distrust of all

Europeans, which existed before the French hostilities, is now enlarged

to hatred, a feeling from which even the English are hardly excepted. Up

to the last moment, the government and people of Morocco believed that

England would never abandon them to their unscrupulous and ambitious

neighbours.

The citizens and merchants of Mogador could not be brought to believe,

or even to entertain the idea that the British ships of war would

quietly look on, whilst the French--the great rivals and enemies of the

English--destroyed their towns and batteries. Most manifest facts and

stern realities dissipated, in an hour when they little thought of it,

such a fond delusion. From that moment, the moral influence of England,

once our boast, and not perhaps unreasonably so, was no longer felt in

Morocco; and now we have lost almost all hold on the good wishes and

faith of the Mussulman tribes of that immense country.

As to exploring the empire of Morocco, or making it the way of

communication with Soudan or Central Negroland, this is now altogether

impracticable. The difficulties of Europeans travelling the Maroquine

States, always great and perilous, are now become nearly insuperable.

This suspicious distrust, or ill-feeling has communicated itself

contagiously to the tribes of the South as far as the Desert, and has

infected other parts of Barbary. The Engleez, once the cherished friends

of the Moors, are looked upon more or less as the abettors of French

aggressions in North Africa, if not as the sharers with them of the

spoil. In the language of the more plain-spoken Moors, "We always

thought all Christians alike, though we often excepted the English from

the number of our enemies, now we are certain we were wrong; the English

are become as much our enemies as the French and the Spaniards." The

future alone can disclose what will be the particular result of this

unfavourable feeling; both with respect to France and England, and to

other European nations. However, we may look forward without misgiving.

Islamism will wear itself out--the Crescent must wane.

In these preliminary observations, the commercial system of the

Maroquine Court deserves especial mention. The great object of Muley Abd

Errahman [3] is--nay, the pursuit of his whole life has been--to get the

whole of the trade of the empire into his own hands. In fact, he has by

this time virtually succeeded, though the thing is less ostentatiously

done than by the Egyptian viceroy, that equally celebrated

prince-merchant. In order to effect this, his Shereefian Majesty seeks

to involve in debt all the merchants, natives, or foreigners, tempting

them by the offer of profuse credit. As many of them as are needy and

speculative, this imperial boon is without scruple greedily accepted.

The Emperor likewise provides them with commodious houses and stores;

gives them at once ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of credit, and

is content to receive in return monthly instalments. These instalments

never are, never can be regularly paid up. The debt progressively and

indefinitely increases; and whilst they live like so many

merchant-princes, carrying on an immense trade, they are in reality

beggars and slaves of the Emperor. They are, however, styled _imperial_

merchants, and wear their golden chains with ostentatious pride.

This credit costs his Shereetian Highness nothing; he gives no goods,

advances no moneys, whilst he most effectually impoverishes and reduces

to servitude the foreign merchant resident in his empire, never allowing

him to visit his native country without the guarantee of leaving his

wife and family behind as hostages for his return. The native merchant

is, in all cases, absolutely at the mercy of his imperial lord. On the

bombardment of Mogador, all the native and resident traders, not

excepting the English merchants, were found overwhelmed with debt, and,

therefore, were not allowed to leave the country; and they were only

saved from the pillage and massacre of the ferocious Berber tribes by a

miracle of good luck.

Since the bombardment of Mogador, the Emperor has more strongly than

ever set his face against the establishment of strangers in his

dominions. Now his Imperial Highness is anxious that all commerce should

be transacted by his own subjects. The Emperor's Jews are, in future, to

be the principal medium of commerce between Morocco and Europe, which,

indeed, is facilitated by many of the native Jews having direct

relations with European Jews, those of London and Marseilles. In this

way, the Maroquines will be relieved from the embarrassments occasioned

by the presence of Europeans, Jews, or Christians, under the protection

of foreign consuls. The Emperor, also, has a fair share of trade, and

gets a good return on what he exports; the balance of commercial

transactions is always in his favour.

I must add a word on the way of treating politically with the Court of

Morocco. The modes and maxims of this Court, not unlike those of the

Chinese, are procrastination, plausible delays, and voluminous

despatches and communications, which are carried on through the hands of

intermediaries and subordinate agents of every rank and degree. You can

never communicate directly with the Emperor, as with other Barbary

princes and pashas. This system has admirably and invariably succeeded

for the last two or three centuries; that is to say, the empire of

Morocco has remained intact by foreign influences, while its system of

commerce has been an exclusive native monopoly. The Americans, however,

have endeavoured to adopt a more expeditious mode of treating with the

Maroquine Court. They have something, in the style and spirit of Lynch

law, usually made their own demands and their own terms, by threatening

the immediate withdrawal of their consul, or the bombardment of ports.

The Shereefs, thus intimidated, have yielded, though with a very bad

grace. Nevertheless, the Americans have received no favours, nor have

they obtained a nearer approach to the awful Shereefian presence than

other people; and it is not likely they ever will succeed beyond their

neighbours. The French and English have always negotiated and

corresponded, corresponded and negotiated, and been worsted once and

worsted again. Somehow or other, the Emperor has, in most cases, had his

own way. Neither the American nor our own European system is the right

or dignified course. And I am still of opinion, that the Maroquine Court

is so far enlightened respecting the actual state of the barbarians or

Christian infidels, out of its Shereefian land of Marabouts, out of its

central orthodox Mussulman land of the Mugreb, as to be accessible to

ordinary notions of things, and that it would always concede a just

demand if it were rightly and vigorously pressed, and if the religious

fanaticism of its people were not involved in the transaction. Thus far

we may do justice to the government of these Moorish princes.

This opinion, however, does not altogether coincide with that of the

late Mr. Hay. According to the report of Mr. Borrow, as found in his

work, "The Bible of Spain," the Moorish government, according to Mr.

Hay, was "one of the vilest description, with which it was next to

impossible to hold amicable relations, as it invariably acted with bad

faith, and set at nought the most solemn treaties." But, if the

Maroquine Court had acted in this most extraordinary manner, surely

there would now be no Moorish empire of Western Barbary.