MOGADORE, COAST OF MOROCCO, _February 29, 1860_.
My last from Tetuan, informed you of its occupation by the Spaniards
and the flight of the Moors, which has created the greatest burst
of enthusiasm and national feeling throughout Spain; and if we can
judge from the Spanish journals, which are filled with the events and
incidents of the war, the praises of the army are being sung in all
parts of Spain.
Gen. O’Donnell has been created Duke of Tetuan. Report says the Emperor
of Morocco has sued for peace, and the Queen’s counsellors have
demanded the permanent possession of Tetuan and twenty millions of
dollars in part payment of the expenses of the war. It now remains to
be seen if the Emperor will accede to the proposition.
Our steamer received orders to discharge her cargo at Gibraltar, where
I took up my quarters at the hotel for a few days. Having visited this
strongly fortified key of the straits twice before, and once described
it to you, I will only add that no practical changes have taken place.
The garrison of six thousand well-equipped and well-disciplined troops
is kept up. Only a portion of the English and French fleet, which were
sent here when the war broke out, now remain in the bay. The gates
of the city, which inclose twenty thousand souls, including troops,
are closed at sundown and opened at sunrise. A permit is granted
for visitors who are not lodged in the city, which is good till the
evening; but a longer sojourn requires application at the police.
There the steamers coal which are bound up the Mediterranean, and to
England and Portugal. The supplies are drawn from Spain or the coast of
Morocco, and vessels from different sources. The natives, by derision,
are called Rock Scorpions, and are mostly Jews and Spaniards. The
Spanish is commonly spoken, although the schools are in part English.
The streets are kept neat and clean. The houses rise one above another,
like the sides of an amphitheatre, to a great height, and the ascent
requires considerable climbing.
On the summit of the rock, with its frowning batteries and tunnelled
galleries, with cannon pointing in all directions, is seen the
telegraph; and by it, in the brush and scrubby trees, are monkeys
grinning and climbing, the only representatives of the race in Europe,
and who would have been extinct long since did not heavy penalties
prevent it. On the African side, the mountains are infested with them.
The carnival season was being enjoyed by the masqueraders, but the
balls and costumes were rather sorry affairs in comparison with those
of Madrid, and other large cities of Spain.
Gibraltar is a free port, and gives employment to merchants and
traders, who are celebrated for their sharp and acute transactions.
The captains of vessels whom I met, who had put in for repairs or in
distress, say they are worse than Key West wreckers. Smuggling and
contraband trade with Spain has fallen off, however, with lower duties
and the close of civil wars.
The weather was cool for the season. Snow was seen upon the African
mountains, and bad reports of cholera came in from Tetuan; large
numbers were dying among troops and residents. I had seen sufficient
evidence of its existence, and concluded it was safest to be out of the
district.
The American gunboat Iroquois came into Gibraltar and took our consul,
Mr. Brown, to Tangiers, being the first consular return to Morocco
since the war began, when those of all nations, with their families,
decamped, and all the subjects of foreign governments who could, did
likewise. The only consul in the whole of Morocco who remained, was the
English, Mr. Hay, at Tangiers, who received express orders, and was
protected by war vessels from Gibraltar, that port being considered
blockaded.
Finding our steamer was going all along the Moorish coast, and thence
to the Canary Islands, I concluded to embark. Our first stopping place
was in thirty-six hours, at Casa Blanca, where we landed the French
and Portuguese consuls, who were old residents, but, like all others,
had abandoned their posts, fearing the fanaticism of the Moors, and
the loss of their heads, as the wild Arabs don’t distinguish among
Christians as to what race they belong. We remained a day. The Moors
had heard of the taking of Tetuan, and were uneasy, and less sanguine.
These two gentlemen we left, but the thought was painful, that they
were running the risk of losing their lives in their own houses.
We next proceeded to Mazagan, an old fortified city of six thousand
inhabitants. It is of square form, with strong walls and ramparts,
situated upon an iron-bound coast. It was built some centuries since
by the Portuguese, who protected it by cannon on the land side as well
as the sea, and occupied it for a long time during the height of the
commercial prosperity of Portugal. At length, from the encroachments of
the Moors, however, they were obliged to abandon it. Before leaving,
they mined it in every direction, and then by stipulation removed their
population and supplies. The keys of the city having been given up, the
wild Arabs rushed in, and filled up the deserted streets and houses.
While looking for booty, a doubloon was discovered, and eagerly seized,
which was attached by a thread to a concealed pistol, which exploded
the mine, and blew up the greater part of the city, causing great
destruction of life, and satisfying the vengeance of the Portuguese.
The old subterranean cisterns, or reservoirs, still exist, and
are worthy of their authors, reminding one of the old Roman and
Carthaginian masonry. The city is now mostly of one story buildings,
with flat roofs, except consular and a few other private houses and
magazines. Europeans make themselves as comfortable as possible amidst
the filth which prevails ankle-deep in the narrow streets, and smells,
badly suited to the olfactories, from dead dogs and cats. The English
consul being absent, I noticed a dead donkey lying near his house.
Himself and his colleagues had all fled the country, and cleanliness
was out of the question.
The Jews from all these points along the coast had been removed, or
made their escape as far as possible. Outside the walls of Gibraltar, I
saw some five hundred tents, furnished by the English government, where
about thirty-five hundred had congregated, and some eighteen hundred
still remained. The government had given rations daily, and the French
government made liberal allowances for such subjects as were under the
protection of its consuls. It was a curious sight, reminding one of
the descriptions of the camp of Israel. Men, women, and children, in
the African Jewish costume, were performing the culinary operations of
the separate households. The canvas streets had their names. The ground
floors were whitewashed, or limed against infection. English sentries
were on patrol, and all well regulated.
The country about Casa Blanca and Mazagan is fertile, but badly
cultivated, and produces wheat and barley of excellent quality. Cattle,
sheep, horses, and donkeys are kept, but the camel is the principal
beast of burden. The export of horses is prohibited; other animals pay
a considerable head tax. Poultry and eggs are abundant and cheap; gum,
wool, and grain were the chief articles of export before the war.
We left two European merchants who had their houses there, and
proceeded to this place, Mogadore, the farthest point on the Morocco
coast, at which a steamer lands, and which is the chief city for the
trade of the capital, Morocco, that lies one hundred and ten miles in
the interior.
This is, for a Moorish city, strongly built, and is surrounded with
walls. The houses are one or two stories high, and well whitewashed.
The bastions and fortifications are upon a rocky shore. The small
island of Mogadore forms a breakwater against the northerly storms;
but like all African harbors, this is only a roadstead. The vicinity
consists of desert for some miles, and then agricultural and grazing
country. The town is dry and clean, reminding me of Tripoli, on the
Barbary coast, for cleanliness, as Mazagan and Casa Blanca compare with
Tunis for filth.
The sight of a steamer, being the first for six weeks, brought the
whole population out. The walls and battlements were crowded with
Arabs from the country, there being twelve hundred who had come in to
protect the city from an expected attack of the Spaniards. The long
white woollen mantles, or cloaks, and red caps, covering their swarthy
bodies, the natural growth of black beard, and the long carabines,
presented a strange aspect, as they looked grim and surly upon the
Christians, and wondered what business we had there.
The women, with their heads covered with white veils, and feet with
yellow boots, looked slyly at us out of one or both eyes, or were
peeping through the blinds as the strangers passed.
Here we have a Jewish quarter, also, which is locked at night. The
daughters of Israel are very fair, and some of them beautiful; they
don’t hide their faces like the Moorish women. Some disorders had
occurred, and some of their houses been broken open and pillaged, for
which they had no redress, as all foreign consuls were absent.
The climate here is delightful, being from seventy to seventy-five
degrees Fahrenheit, and never varying more than ten degrees throughout
the year.
One of our passengers, an English merchant long in this country,
had left his house in possession of a trusty Moor, and found all
satisfactory. Indeed, the residents among the Moors have more to
apprehend from pillage on the part of the wild hordes of the country,
than from those of the city. My friend, at whose house I am, will not
remain, although he speaks Arabic, but will go on to the Canary Islands
with us, with the intention of returning when the war is over. Another
of our passengers, a merchant, who was born in a Mohammedan city, will
remain and take his chance.
No sooner had we landed than we were surrounded and followed by groups
of friends and listeners, who followed close on our heels to the house,
which was closed by main force to prevent intrusion. Soon after, the
familiar and monotonous songs of the Arabs, accompanied by primitive
violins, reached my ears from the gallery. There sat five musicians,
whose music and song was spiced from time to time with a peculiar howl
or whistle from two blind women, which I at first took for the escape
of steam from the steamer.
To my surprise the health officer, when he came off, spoke English and
French. He looks the Moor in costume, with his patriarchal white beard,
and is now seventy-six years of age. I have been to his house to-day,
and found him squatted, legs crossed, upon a divan, taking his repast
of tea, instead of coffee, with oranges, dates, raisins, pomegranates,
and a liquor which he offered us, made from figs, from his little
table about two feet high. His father was an Englishman and his mother
a Spanish woman. He has been forty-six years in Morocco, having come
as interpreter to an English gentleman who wanted to travel in the
interior, and was there murdered. His speaking Arabic saved him from
the same fate. When the war broke out he sent his family to Gibraltar,
and is now quite alone.