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 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 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 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:[ (return) ] 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:[ (return) ] Genesis, xli. 9.--"And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much."
Footnote 153:[ (return) ] 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:[ (return) ] Genesis, xli. 48.
Footnote 155:[ (return) ] 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 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.
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.
MANUFACTURES OF FAS.
Superior Manufacture of Gold-thread.--Imitation of precious Stones.--Manufactory of Gun-barrels in Suse.--Silver-mine.
The manufactures of West Barbary, are of various kinds. They excel, in the city of Fas, in the manufacture of woollens, cottons, silks, and gold-thread. The wool and cotton are made into hayks, which are pieces of cloth five feet wide, and about three and a half, or four yards long, used to throw loosely over the dress, when they go out into the external air: it resembles the Roman toga, and when tastefully adjusted, gives an elegance to the Moorish costume. These hayks are manufactured in most of the private families of Fas; the women employ themselves about them, and sell them to the merchants. They are sometimes made of cotton mixed with silk, and also altogether of silk. They make also pieces of silk of various bright colours, called bulawan; the sky-blue, dark-blue, scarlet, and yellow, are vivid colours, produced by their mode of dying the silk before it is manufactured. They manufacture their silks from Bengal raw silk, which they call emfitla. The bulawan is striped, or chequered, pink, blue, yellow, scarlet, and green: it resembles what is called, in England, Persian, but it is much stronger, and more [156] durable, though equally light. The silk sashes, called hazam, are made in large quantities, and are deserving of imitation in Europe; they are very substantial, but of the same superior colours with the bulawan. They are made generally half a yard wide, and three yards long: these sell at Fas, from two to fifty dollars each. The superior kind made for the ladies of the horam [157], or emperor's seraglio, for the ladies of the bashaws, and for those of the great and opulent, are intermixed with a beautiful gold-thread, much superior to any that is manufactured in Europe, insomuch, that the gold-thread imported from Leghorn and Marseilles is used only in such hazams as are made for exportation to Sudan, Draha, or Bled-el-Jereed, but those made for the great and opulent, for home consumption, are manufactured with the gold thread of the Fas manufacture. Whether these expert artificers learned the mystery of gold beating, and gold wire drawing, by which they obtain gold-thread, from the Egyptians, I am not competent to say; but they say they derived it in ancient times from the Arabs, as well as the art of cutting, polishing, and setting precious stones. They make a composition in imitation of amber, which cannot, by the keenest eye, be distinguished from the natural amber, the latter, however, by [158] friction attracts cotton, but the manufactured amber does not; this is the only criterion by which they ascertain the true from the false amber. They also compose artificial stones with equal sagacity; the topaz, the emerald, and the ruby they imitate to perfection. The wool with which they make shawls almost equal in appearance to those of Kashmere, is procured from the sheep of the province of Tedla, and is finer than the Spanish Merino. They might manufacture shawls of goats' hair, equal to those of Kashmere, from the goats of the eastern declivity of the Atlas, whose hair is like silk: these goats are called (el maize Felelley,) i.e. Tafilelt goats. [159] There can be no doubt, if our intercourse with Marocco had not been impeded by a general ignorance of the language of that country, that we might long since have received from the manufacturers of Fas, shawls of Tafilelt goat-hair, equal to the finest of the Kashmere manufacture. There is a very extensive manufactory of red woollen caps at Fas, the contexture of which is well deserving investigation. There is also a manufactory of gun locks and barrels; the former appear to have reached the acmé of the art, the latter are not so good as those which they procure from Europe: so that a Spanish or an English barrel, and a Fas lock, is considered a complete gun. Such articles of manufacture as require a complication of machinery and power to produce they import from Europe, except only when the market is bare, and then necessity compels them to attempt their construction. The (hayk Filelly,) i.e. Tafilelt hayk, is a fine elegant woollen cloth, thin as a muslin. The Emperor Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah patronised this manufacture of his native country, and never wore any other. The art of manufacturing leather is carried to great perfection at Mequinas: shoes of the thinnest leather are there made impervious to water. The manufactures at Marocco and Terodant are similar to those of Fas, with the exception of that of gold-thread, and the cutting and polishing of precious stones. The preparation of leather at Marocco surpasses any thing known in Europe: lion and tiger skins they prepare white as snow, and soft as silk. There are two plants that grow in the Atlas mountains, the leaves of which they use in the manufacture of leather; they are called tizra, and tasaya. Whether these render the leather impervious, I am not competent to say; every inquiry that I have made at Marocco respecting this beautiful manufacture, has been unsatisfactory. I have always found the manufacturers very guarded, and extremely jealous; but I have often thought that two or three of our leather manufacturers, well versed in their art, and withal of penetrating minds, might contrive to extract the secret from them. In the mountains of Idaultit, in Lower Suse, they have iron-mines, and they make gun-barrels and gun-locks equal to what are made at Fas. The temptations to agriculture, however, are such, that sufficient only for the consumption of their own kabyl are manufactured; which is done rather from a principle of self-defense, and from the amor patriæ, than with a view to gain. The silver from the mines of Elala, comes to the Santa Cruz market pure, and in round lumps, weighing about two ounces each. I have bought it for its weight in Spanish dollars; but it is generally taken to the Mint for sale. Ores of gold from the mines of South Barbary, and silver dust from the bed of the river at Messa, collected personally by me, I sent to England to be assayed: the person who got them assayed, reported, that the metal yielded was scarcely sufficient to pay the charges of assaying; so that the speculation was abandoned.
Footnote 156:[ (return) ] The spirit of avarice does not sufficiently prevail to induce the manufacturer to make imperfect articles for the purpose of sale only. Moreover, they are restrained from deception by an officer, who inspects the quality of manufactures, and does not suffer an imperfect article to be sold.
Footnote 157:[ (return) ] This word is called by Europeans haram or seraglio; but haram thus applied, is a barbarism: it signifies vicious. Horam is the correct pronunciation: it signifies a place of safety, that admits of no intrusion.
Footnote 158:[ (return) ] Thales, the chief of the seven wise men of Greece, detected the existence of electricity in amber about 600 years before the Christian era. He was the first who observed attraction to be the distinguishing property of amber; and he was so forcibly struck with this singular discovery, that he was almost led to suppose that it possessed animation. The term electricity is derived from the Greek word [Greek: ηλεκτρον], amber. See Remarks on Electricity and Galvanism, by M. La Beaume, p. 29.
Footnote 159:[ (return) ] There was a breed of these goats on the island of Mogodor, kept there by the emperor's orders. This island is the state-prison of the empire.
ON THE STATE OF SLAVERY
IN MUHAMEDAN AFRICA.
The state of slavery in this country is very different from that which is experienced by the unfortunate men who are transported from Africa to work under our Christian brethren in the West India islands. No man, who is sufficiently erudite to read the Koran can be (abd) a slave in a Muhamedan country. It is incumbent on a good mûselman to give such his liberty, that the propagation of the (Deen el Wâsah [160]) mûselman faith, be not impeded. A man who has served his master faithfully [161] seven years, sometimes gets liberated. This liberation, however, is not compulsory; but conscientious mûselmen, of good moral character, often adopt this enlarging system. I have, however, met with many Moors, who, on offering liberty to their slaves, the latter have declined it, preferring to continue in obeisance; a clear proof that their servitude is not very severe. All slaves, without exception, are brought to this country from the various territories of Sudan, by the akkabars, kaffilas, or caravans, that traverse Sahara. They are all pagans or idolaters (from the interior regions). They are worth from ten to twenty dollars at Timbuctoo; and at Marocco and Fas they sell for, from seventy to one hundred dollars. They are received into the Moorish families as domestic servants, and soon forget their idolatrous superstitions, and become (nominally at least) Muhamedans. After which, many learn to read the Koran, and becoming observers of ablution and prostration, often procure their liberation; for if any one should neglect to liberate such a slave, his brethren in Muhamed will urge him to it, as a good and charitable work, becoming a true, mûselman. [162]
Footnote 160:[ (return) ] So called by Muhamedans: literally means the liberal of wide doctrine, alluding to that of the Arabian Prophet.
Footnote 161:[ (return) ] Jeremiah, xxxiv. 14.
Footnote 162:[ (return) ] The etymology of muselman is, a man of peace; from salem, peace.
The man who wrote the letter from Timbuctoo, giving his master at Mogodor an account of Mungo Park, having visited Kabria, which letter I read, and reported its contents on my arrival in England from Mogodor, about the year 1807, to my Lord Moira (now the Marquis of Hastings), to Sir Joseph Banks, and to Sir Charles Morgan, was a liberated negro of Seed el Abes Buhellel, a Fas merchant, whose father had an establishment at Timbuctoo. When Buhellel liberated this negro, he had such confidence in him, that he advanced to him, on his own personal credit, goods to a considerable amount, with which he crossed Sahara, and took them to Timbuctoo for a market. It were to be desired, for the sake of humanity, that our West-India planters would take a lesson on this subject from the Moors, whose conduct, in this particular, is worthy of imitation.
THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS.
Their incredible Destruction.--Used as Food.--Remarkable Instance of their destroying every Green Herb on one Side of a River, and not on the other.
In the autumn of 1792, (Jeraad) locusts began to appear in West Barbary. The corn was in ear, and therefore safe, as this devouring insect attacks no hard substance. In (the liahli,) the period of heavy rains comprised between the forty longest nights, old style, they disappeared; so that one or two only were seen occasionally: but so soon as the liahli had passed, the small young green locust began to appear, no bigger than a fly. As vegetation increased, these insects increased in size and quantity. But the country did not yet seem to suffer from them. About the end of March, they increased rapidly. I was at (Larsa Sultan) the emperor's garden, which belongs to the Europeans, and which was given to the merchants of Mogodor by the emperor Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah, in the kabyl of Idaugourd, in the province of Haha, and the garden flourished with every green herb, and the fruit-trees were all coming forward in the productive beauty of spring. I went there the following day, and not a green leaf was to be seen: an army of locusts had attacked it during the night, and had devoured every shrub, every vegetable, and every green leaf; so that the garden had been converted into an unproductive wilderness. And, notwithstanding the incredible devastation that was thus produced, not one locust was to be seen. The gardener reported, that (sultan jeraad) the king of the locusts had taken his departure eastward early in the morning; the myriads of locusts followed, so that in a quarter of an hour not one was to be seen. The depredations of these devouring insects was too soon felt, and a direful scarcity ensued. The poor would go out a locusting, as they termed it: the bushes were covered; they took their (haik) garment, and threw it over them, and then collected them in a sack. In half an hour they would collect a bushel. These they would take home, and boil a quarter of an hour; they would then put them into a frying-pan, with pepper, salt, and vinegar, and eat them, without bread or any other food, making a meal of them. They threw away the head, wings, and legs, and ate them as we do prawns. They considered them wholesome food, and preferred them to pigeons. Afterwards, whenever there was any public entertainment given, locusts was a standing dish; and it is remarkable that the dish was always emptied, so generally were they esteemed as palatable food.
A few years after the locusts appeared, I performed a journey from Mogodor to Tangier. The face of the country appeared like a newly ploughed field of a brown soil; for it was completely covered with these insects, insomuch that they had devoured even the bark of the trees. They rose up about a yard, as the horses went on, and settled again; in some places they were one upon another, three or four inches deep on the ground; a few were flying in the air, and they flew against the face, as if they were blind, to the no small annoyance of the traveller. It is very remarkable, that on reaching the banks of the river [163] Elkos, which we crossed, there was not, on the north side of that river, to my great astonishment, one locust any where to be seen; but the country was flourishing in all the luxuriance of verdure, although the river was not wider than the Thames at Windsor. This extraordinary circumstance was accounted for by the Arabs, who said that not a locust would cross the river, till (sultan jeraad) the king of the locusts should precede and direct the way.
Footnote 163:[ (return) ] See the Map of the empire of Marocco.