An account of the empire of Marocco, and the districts of Suse and Tafilelt; compiled from miscellaneous observations made during a long residence in, and various journies through, these countries. To which is added an account of shipwrecks on the western coast of Africa, and an interesting account of Timbuctoo, the great emporium of Central Africa

by James Grey Jackson

METALS AND MINERALS.

Gold and Silver Mines are found in several parts of the Empire of Marocco; but more particularly about Messa in the province of Suse. Being once on a visit to the Vicegerent of this province, Alkaid Mohammed ben Delemy, at Shtuka, and desirous to examine the country in the vicinity of Messa, together with its mines, I requested an escort from the Vicegerent, to accompany me thither, which he readily granted. On my arrival at Messa, I proceeded to the southern banks of the river, where I was shewn a gold mine, which, I was informed, had been worked by the Portuguese, when they were in possession of this district, and who, previous to their departure, had thrown stones into the aperture, which the Shelluhs had frequently attempted in vain to remove. These stones were of an immense size, and it would have required considerable mechanical powers to effect their removal. I was next conducted through the bed of the river, when I discovered, on a bluish soil, two separate strata of blue sand intermixed with silver dust; of this I collected a small quantity, and sent it to England to be analyzed; but such is the disposition of the people, that they will not allow the sand to be taken away in any quantity for the purpose of extracting the metal; though they make no use of it themselves, being unacquainted with the proper method of refining it.

Near Elala and Shtuka, in the same province, there is a very rich silver mine; but being situated between two clans, they are continually fighting about it, and by this means both parties are deprived of the benefit it offers. I have purchased lumps of this silver, which had been refined by the natives, and it was more pure than the silver of Spanish dollars.

There is another silver mine in the plains of Msegina, near Santa Cruz: this was reported to the Emperor Seedi Mohammed, to be extremely rich, and he accordingly sent some persons conversant in minerals to inspect, and report upon it. Previous to their departure, however, they were secretly informed, that he wished to discourage the working of this mine, lest the province might be thereby rendered too rich and powerful, and the people be enabled to throw off their allegiance. In consequence of this, after a formal examination had been made, it was reported that the mine would not pay for the expense of working it. The entrance was then broken in, and the Shelluhs, discouraged by this unfavourable report, and not suspecting the motive for destroying the mine, paid no further attention to it. This mine had probably been worked by the Portuguese, when they were in possession of Santa Cruz and Agurem.

Gold is also found in the Atlas mountains, and in Lower Suse, but the mines are not worked.[113]

Suse also produces iron, copper, and lead ore. In the mountains of Idaultit, they have iron, which they manufacture themselves into gun-barrels, and other articles. At Tesellergt the copper mines are extremely abundant; but they work them only as they want the metal. In Tafilelt are mines of antimony; it abounds also in lead ore.

Mineral Salt.—West Barbary, Bled-el-jerrêde, and parts of Sahara, abound in mineral salt, of a red colour, which is dug from quarries and mines. In the province of Abda there is a very extensive lake, which furnishes salt of a superior quality to the mineral; they are both exceedingly strong, and are not fit to prepare meat with, having been frequently tried; this, however, may be owing to the unskilfullness of the Moors in curing meat.

Near the cities of Fas and Mequinas a similar salt is also found; and a beautifully white and pure kind is procured among the rocks, which bind many parts of the coast; this is produced by the effulgence of the meridian sun, exhaling the water from the salt which remains in the cavities.

Vast quantities of salt are conveyed by the Akkabahs to Soudan, where none is produced, and on that account is so valuable at Timbuctoo, that a pound weight is frequently bartered for an ounce of gold dust.

Salt-petre.—This article, now prohibited from exportation, except under certain restrictions, and particular grants, is the produce of Fas, Marocco, and Terodant; that of Terodant or Suse is the best, purest, and strongest, and in its unrefined state is equal to that of Marocco when refined.[114]

Lead Ore (El Kahol).—There are two kinds of this mineral; that which is the best and most esteemed sells for double the price of the common kind, and is the basis of the black substance used by the African ladies to tinge their eyes, eye-brows, and eye-lashes. The Atlas mountains abound with this lead ore, particularly the eastern side of them, towards Fighig and Tafilelt. The best kind, as already observed, is called El Kahol Filelly (i.e. lead ore of Tafilelt).

Sulphur.—Before this mineral was imported from the Mediterranean, it was dug from the foot of Atlas, opposite to Terodant, where there are immense quantities.[115]

FRUITS, PLANTS, &c.

Figs, called by the Western Arabs, Kermuse; there are many kinds of this fruit, some of which are purple, others green; they are esteemed wholesome, and abound in every part of the empire. At Terodant, Marocco, Fas, and Tetuan, they are uncommonly fine, and of an exquisite flavour; those of Mogodor, however, are very inferior, as are most of the fruits that grow in the environs of that arid and sandy country. The Jews extract (mahaya) an ardent spirit from figs, which they drink immoderately whilst hot from the alembic; but when they have patience to keep it a year or two, it becomes a mild spirit, losing its heating and pernicious quality.

Indian Fig, or Prickly Pear (Cactus Opuntia), called Takanareele, by the Shelluhs, and Kermuse d’Ensarrah, by the Arabs and Moors. The tree which produces this fruit grows from ten to twenty feet in height; its leaves, from the sides of which the fruit springs, are thick and succulent, and impregnated with a transparent mucilaginous juice, which, from its peculiarly cooling and anti-inflammatory qualities, was much used with gum ammoniac, during the plague, for cataplasms and fumigations. The Indian fig is very different from other figs; when ripe, it is of an oval form, and of a colour inclining to orange or yellow; it has a thick succulent rind, so covered with fine sharp prickles, as to render leather gloves, or some other substitute necessary, when peeling it. This fruit is of an extraordinary refrigerating quality, and is, on that account, eaten in the early part of the morning by the people of Haha and Suse, where it abounds. In hot weather it is a grateful restorative to the relaxed state of the bowels. The tree grows in stony arid situations, and frequently affords refreshment to the traveller, when he least expects to find so cooling a fruit.

Almonds.—The quantities of this fruit produced in the province of Suse are incalculable, and have, latterly, been much increased. The bitter kind is exported to Europe; but the sweet, being an article of food, has been, by the present Emperor, prohibited from exportation, which has recently diminished considerably the cultivation of this nutritious fruit.

Gum Sandrac Tree.—Thuya, Arar, or Sandrac-tree, is probably the Arbor vitæ of Theophrastus: it is similar in leaf to the juniper, and, besides producing the gum sandrac, the wood is invaluable, being somewhat like cedar, having a similar smell, and being impenetrable to the worm; it is, however, a harder wood, and would be a great acquisition in ship-building; and there are means of procuring it. The roofs of houses, and cielings of rooms, are made of this unperishable wood.

El Rassul.—A small plant little known, but used by the tanners in the preparation of leather.

Tizra, or Seuhayha.—A shrub about three feet high, used also in the preparation of leather; it grows near the Jibbel Heddid in the plains[116] of Akkermute, in the province of Shedma. (See the [map of West Barbary]).

Hashisha, and Kief.—The plant called Hashisha is the African hemp plant; it grows in all the gardens; and is reared in the plains at Marocco, for the manufacture of twine: but in most parts of the country it is cultivated for the extraordinary and pleasing voluptuous vacuity of mind which it produces in those who smoke it: unlike the intoxication from wine, a fascinating stupor pervades the mind, and the dreams are agreeable. The kief, which is the flower and seeds of the plant, is the strongest, and a pipe of it half the size of a common English tobacco-pipe, is sufficient to intoxicate. The infatuation of those who use it is such, that they cannot exist without it. The kief is often pounded, and mixed with (El Majune), an invigorating confection, which is sold at an enormous price; a piece of this as big as a walnut will for a time entirely deprive a man of all reason and intellect; they prefer it to opium, from the voluptuous sensations which it never fails to produce. Wine or brandy, they say, does not stand in competition with it. The Hashisha, or leaves of the plant, are dried and cut like tobacco, with which they are smoked, in very small pipes; but when the person wishes to indulge in the sensual stupor it occasions, he smokes the Hashisha pure, and in less than half an hour it operates; the person under its influence is said to experience pleasing images: he fancies himself in company with beautiful women; he dreams that he is an emperor, or a bashaw, and that the world is at his nod. There are other plants which possess a similar exhilirating quality, among which is a species of the Palma Christi, the nuts of which, mixed with any kind of food, affect a person for three hours, and then pass off. These they often use when they wish to discover the mind of a person, or what occupies his thoughts.

Snobar.—This is a plant much used by the tanners in the preparation of leather: it grows on Mount Atlas and about Tetuan.

Lotus.—The Lotus, or water lily, grows in the rivers and streams of El Garb; it is called by the Arabs Nufar. The lotus, or nymphæa lotus, has often been mistaken for a very different plant, called by the ancients Lotus, or Rhamnus Lotus, and which served formerly for food to a certain people in Africa, thence named Lotophagi; this plant, which is a shrub similar in appearance to the wild jujube, or buckthorn, is called by the Arabs Seedra, and grows about the Atlas mountains east of Marocco and Terodant. It has been described by Mr. Mungo Park in his Travels in Africa.

Mallows.—This herb is much used by the Arabian doctors; and the fruit is eaten by the Arabs as antifebrile: the generical name is Kubbaiza.[117] The garden Jew’s mallow, called Melokia, is also much esteemed as a strong incentive to venery.

Coloquintida, called by the Arabs El Hendal, is found along the coast, on the sandy shore above the high water mark from Agadeer to Wedinoon, an extent of about two hundred miles: it had never been imported into this country till last year, by myself, when it sold at 3s. 8d. per lb. Throughout this fertile country roses, and various beautiful flowers which are carefully reared in hot houses with us, grow spontaneously in the plains: of these I have seen in Temsena, and about Rabat, and in Suse, lupins, jonquils, wall-flowers and hyacinths of various colours and exquisite fragrance (of the latter there is a beautiful kind, being a Spanish brown, inclining to scarlet.) The roses about Marocco grow in the streams and ditches. At Tafilelt they have a powerful fragrance: it is from the leaves of the Worde Fillelly, or Tafilelt rose, that the celebrated Attar of roses (commonly called Otto of roses) is extracted: the word Attar is an Arabic word signifying a distillation or filtration.[118]

Surnag.—This vegetable grows on the declivities of the Atlas mountains. The Moors drink a decoction of it for the purpose of inciting them to venereal pleasure.

Truffles.—This root, called by the Arabs Terfez, is somewhat similar to the potatoe, and about the size of a lemon; it grows in sandy places, near the surface of the earth, where it is discovered by the light soil appearing swelled and cracked. It is not planted, but grows spontaneously; some are black, others white, but the former are the best; both, however, have a black rind, which does not peel off like that of a potatoe, but is cut or pared like that of an apple. The Arabs, Moors, Shelluhs, and Jews, equally prize the truffle; it is therefore in great demand, and used in all made dishes, and is a very delicate, nutritious, and wholesome food: they are also highly stimulating, on which account they are more esteemed among this amorous people than for their delicate taste; they are particularly palatable with wine, and often introduced in the dessert. They are very good boiled in water or in steam. In Suse, Abda, and Bled-el-jerrêde, they are found in great abundance. The season for them is March, when the storms of thunder prevail. After a storm, the people repair to the sandy plains, dig them up, and bring them to the towns, where, being in great demand, they sell at a costly price.

GUMS, OILS, &c.

Euphorbium.—Furbiune is the Arabic name of this gum, which is produced by a very curious succulent plant, growing on the Atlas mountains, and called by the Shelluhs and Arabs, Dergmuse;[119] in its general form, it resembles a large goblet (see the [Plate]), and is somewhat like a wild thistle. From the main body of the plant proceed several solid leafless branches, about three inches in circumference, and one in diameter, from the top of which shoot out similar ones, each bearing on its summit a vivid crimson flower; these branches are scolloped, and have on their outer sides small knots, from which grow five extremely sharp pointed thorns, about one-third of an inch in length.[120] The stalk is at first soft and succulent, but becomes hard in a few years, when the plant assumes the above mentioned form, and may then be considered at its maturity; if cut in this state with a sword, it emits a large quantity of corrosive, lacteous juice, which, if squeezed between the fingers, will excoriate; when old, the plant withers, and this juice becomes dry, and turns to powder. The inhabitants of those parts of the lower regions of Atlas make incisions in the branches of the plants with a knife, whence the juice issues, which, after being heated by the sun, becomes a substance of a whitish yellow colour, and in the month of September drops off, and forms the gum Euphorbium. The plants produce abundantly once only in four years, but this fourth year’s produce is more than all Europe can consume; it being a very powerful cathartic. The people who collect the gum, are obliged to tie a cloth over their mouth and nostrils, to prevent the small dusty particles from annoying them, as they produce incessant sneezing.

Plate 6.

(Dergmuse)
Gum Euphorbium Plant.

Drawn by J. G. Jackson.

Engraved J. C. Stadler.

London Published June 4. 1811. by G. & W. Nicholl Pall Mall.

The branches of the plant are brought to Mogodor, for the use of the tanners, by the boats which go from thence to Agadeer (where it abounds), and to it probably the Marocco leather owes its reputed pre-eminence. It is also in great request among the women, as a depilatory. Though the plant abounds at Agadeer, yet, either from the nature of the soil, or the climate not being sufficiently hot, it is stunted, and never comes to perfection. During the three years I resided there, I never saw any gum attached to it. It flourishes in stony mountainous situations, interspersed with rocks, whose interstices are filled with a black loam of decomposed vegetable earth.

Ammoniacum, called Feshook in Arabick, is produced from a plant similar to the European fennel, but much larger. In most of the plains of the interior, and particularly about El Araiche, and M’sharrah Rummellah, it grows ten feet high. The Gum Ammoniac is procured by incisions in the branches, which, when pricked, emit a lacteous, glutinous juice, which being hardened by the heat of the sun, falls on the ground, and mixes with the red earth below: hence the reason that Gum Ammoniac of Barbary does not suit the London market. It might, however, with a little trouble, be procured perfectly pure, by spreading mats under the shrubs to receive the gum as it falls. The gum in the above mentioned state, is used in all parts of the country for cataplasms and fumigations. The sandy light soil which produces the Gum Ammoniac, abounds in the north of Marocco. It is remarkable, that neither bird nor beast is seen where this plant grows, the vulture only excepted.[121] It is, however, attacked by a beetle,[122] having a long horn proceeding from its nose, with which it perforates the plant, and makes the incisions whence the gum oozes out.

Plate 7.

(Fashook)
Gum Ammoniac Plant.

Drawn by J. G. Jackson.

Engraved J. C. Stadler.

London Published June 4. 1811. by G. & W. Nicholl Pall Mall.

Plate 8.

(Dibben Fashook,) Gum Ammoniac Fly.

Drawn by J. G. Jackson.

Engraved J. C. Stadler.

London Published June 4. 1811. by G. & W. Nicholl Pall Mall.

Gum Arabic.—The gum called Marocco or Barbary gum, is produced from a high thorny tree called Attaleh, having leaves similar to the Arar, or Gum Sandrac tree, and the juniper. The best kind of Barbary gum is procured from the trees of Marocco, Ras-el-wed, in the province of Suse and Bled-hummer, in the province of Abda; the secondary qualities are the produce of Shedma, Duquella, and other provinces; the tree grows abundantly in the Atlas mountains, and is found also in Bled-el-jerrêde. The gum, when new, emits a faint smell, and when stowed in the warehouse, it is heard to crack spontaneously for several weeks; and this cracking is the surest criterion of new gum, as it never does so when old; there is, however, scarcely any difference in the quality. The Attaleh is not so large a tree as the Arar, which produces the Sandrac gum, nor does it reach the size of the Aurwar tree, which produces the gum Senegal. It has a low crooked stem, and its branches, from the narrowness of its leaves (long and scanty), have a harsh, withered, and unhealthy appearance at the time it yields the most gum, that is, during the hot and parching months of July and August; but although not an ornamental tree, it is a most useful plant, and will always be considered valuable. Its wood is hard, and takes a good polish; its seeds, which are enclosed in a pericarpium, resemble those of the lupin, yield a reddish dye, and are used by the tanners in the preparation of leather. These seeds attract goats, who are very fond of eating them. The more sickly the tree appears, the more gum it yields; and the hotter the weather, the more prolific it is. A wet winter and a cool or mild summer are unfavourable to the production of gum.

Oil of Olives.—The province of Suse produces great abundance of this oil.[123] The people of Ras-el-wed make two sorts, Tabaluht, and Zit-el-aud;[124] the former is made from the olives when green, and nearly ripe, with which they frequently grind limes, or wild thyme. This oil is very rich, and white, and not inferior to the best Lucca or Florence oil, and might, with due attention, be made a considerable article of commerce to this country. The Zit-el-aud, is made from the olives when quite ripe, and alter they have laid on the ground some time; in this state they yield the greatest quantity of oil, but it has a strong, and often a rancid taste, which is not, however, disliked by the natives. It is used in Europe in the woollen and soap manufactories.

Oil Arganic is also in abundance in Suse: it is much used for frying fish,[125] and burning in lamps.

Pitch.—The pitch of the Arabs, called Kitran, is obtained from the wild juniper, which abounds in the Atlas mountains, as well as in many parts of the champaign country: the manner of obtaining it is thus: they dig a large and deep round hole, in the side of which, near the bottom, they excavate another in the form of a cauldron, which they plaister round; they then fill up the communicating aperture with stones or bricks, leaving a small channel of communication; the large hole is then filled with the boughs of the wild juniper, which they call Toga, broken into small pieces, after which the mouth of the furnace is closed up, and fire set to the wood; the sap, which forms the pitch, then oozes out of the burning boughs, and runs into the communicating hole; when the whole is cooled, it is taken out, and put into skins or bladders.

FOOTNOTES:

[113]I procured several specimens of gold and silver ores from the various mines in this province, which I sent to Europe to be analyzed; but the smallness of the quantity precluded any considerable advantage from the analyzation, and I had not an opportunity afterwards of repeating the trial to a larger extent.

[114]It is probably owing to the deficiency of knowledge in African languages among Europeans (which not only impedes, but often renders abortive, our negociations with the Emperor) that we have been hitherto prevented from obtaining very considerable supplies as well of this as of many other useful articles, such as naval stores and provisions, from West Barbary.

[115]The Arabs of Woled Abussebah manufacture gun-powder of a quality far superior to that of Europe; for if it be immersed in water during a night, and then taken out, it is perfectly dry and fit for use; but they keep the process a secret. That which is made by the Moors is, in general, of a very inferior quality, having neither strength nor quickness.

[116]Harushe is a name applied in Africa to all plains or places covered with basaltic stones, bearing marks of some ancient convulsion of nature. These places are interspersed over the Desert, or Sahara, and in other parts of Africa.

[117]Sonini, in his travels in Egypt, called it hobezé; there is, however, no h in the word, but a guttural k (خ) an error originating in a partial, and but an oral, knowledge of the Arabic language; or possibly he had seen the word written by a professed Arabian scholar, who frequently omits the punctuation, which he can make out by the tenour of the discourse; in this case the word would have been written with the letter h (ح).

[118]In passing these plains, where such a variety of beautiful flowers grow spontaneously, it has often occurred to me that this country was once in a considerably higher degree of cultivation than it is at present.

[119]Probably the Euphorbium officinalis of Linnæus.

[120]These adhere to every thing which touches them, and seem to have been intended by nature, to prevent cattle from eating this caustic plant, which they always avoid on account of its prickles.

[121]See [page 118.]

[122]See the [plate,] where it is represented of the natural size.

[123]The plantations of olive-trees in this province are very numerous: there is an extensive one in the neighbourhood of Messa, the trees of which are of great size and beauty, and are planted in a very whimsical and peculiar manner. When I visited Messa, I enquired the cause of their being so arranged, and learnt from the viceroy’s aide-de-camp, who attended me, that one of the kings of the dynasty of Saddia, being on his journey to Soudan, encamped here, with his army; that the pegs with which the cavalry picketed their horses, were cut from the olive-trees in the neighbourhood, and that these pegs being left in the ground on account of some sudden cause of departure of the army, the olive-trees in question sprung up from them. I confess, while I acknowledged the ingenuity of the idea, (for the disposition of the trees exactly resembled the arrangement of cavalry in an encampment), I treated it as fabulous; some time afterwards, however, the following circumstance occurred, which induced me to think the story was not only plausible, but very credible. Having occasion to send for some plants for a garden which I had at Agadeer, or Santa Cruz, the gardener brought, amongst other things, a few bits of wood without any root or leaf, about eighteen inches long, and three in circumference, which he with a large stone knocked into the ground. Seeing the fellow thus employed, I asked him what he meant by trifling in that way? “I am not trifling,” said he, “but planting your pomegranate trees.” I began to take them out of the ground; but some persons who were near assuring me that it was the mode in which they were always planted, and that they would (with the blessing of God) take root, and shoot forth leaves the next year, I was at length prevailed on to leave a few in the ground, merely for experiment, and they certainly did take root, and were in a fair way of becoming good trees when I left Santa Cruz!

[124]Zit is the Arabic for oil; Zitune for olives.

[125]When used for frying fish, a quart of it should be boiled with a large onion cut in quarters; and when it boils, a piece of the inside of a loaf, about the size of an orange, should be put in, after which it should be taken off the fire, and let stand to cool; and when quite cold, should be strained through a sieve; without this precaution, it is supposed to possess qualities which promote leprosy. Doctor Barrata.

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CHAPTER VII.

Description of the Inhabitants of West Barbary — their Dress — Religious Ceremonies and Opinions — their Character — Manners and Customs — Diseases — Funerals — Etiquette of the Court — Sources of Revenue.

The inhabitants of the Emperor of Marocco’s dominions may be divided into four classes, namely, Moors, Arabs, Berebbers, (which latter are probably the aborigines,) and Shelluhs.

The Moors are the descendants of those who were driven out of Spain; they inhabit the cities of Marocco, Fas, Mequinas, and all the coast towns, as far southward as the province of Haha. Their language is a corrupt Arabic, intermixed with Spanish. In my transactions with these people, I have generally observed in them a misanthropic insolence whenever they are addressed with courtesy and respect, but much civility when treated with dignity. They seem to imagine suavity of manners to be an indication of fear.

The Arabs have their original stock in Sahara, from whence they emigrate to the plains of Marocco, whenever the plague, famine, or any other calamity depopulates the country so as to admit of a new colony, without injuring the territory of the former inhabitants. These Arabs live in tents, inhabiting the fertile and extensive plains, and indeed the whole territory west of Atlas, and as far south as Mogodor, or the confines of the Arab province of Shedma. (See the [map of Marocco]). These populous tribes travel over the whole of Africa; and are the agriculturists of Barbary and of Bled-el-jerrêde. They speak the Korannick Arabic somewhat corrupted. They are a restless and turbulent people, continually at war with each other: in one province a rebellious kabyle, or clan, will fight against a neighbouring loyal one, and will thus plunder and destroy one another, till, fatigued by the toils of war, they mutually cease, when, the next year perhaps, the rebellious clan will be found fighting for the Emperor against the former loyal one, now become rebellious. This plan of setting one tribe against another is an act of policy of the Emperor, because, if he did not, in this manner, quell the broils continually breaking out amongst them, he would be compelled, in order to preserve tranquillity in his dominions, to employ his own army for that purpose, which is generally occupied in more important business. Hospitality is a prominent feature in the character of these people, insomuch that if an enemy be driven to the necessity of seeking an asylum among them, hostility is immediately forgotten.

The Berebbers inhabit the mountains of Atlas north of the city of Marocco, living generally in tents; they are a robust, nervous, and warlike people, having a language peculiar to themselves, which differs more from the Arabic, or general language of Africa, than any two languages of Europe differ from each other; it is probably a dialect of the ancient Carthaginian. In travelling through the Berebber Kabyles of Ait Imure, and Zemure Shelluh, I noticed many of the inhabitants who possessed the old Roman physiognomy. The general occupation of these people is husbandry, and the rearing of bees for honey and wax. They possess much cunning and duplicity, and are never outwitted by the Moors, or entirely worsted by the troops of the Emperor, with whom they have had very frequent encounters, but have never been permanently subdued: they esteem it the greatest advantage possible to fight on their own territory. Their allegiance to the Emperor has often been secured by retaining their chiefs at court, conferring favours on them, appointing them to offices of state, and to seats in the Diwan; thus making them hostages, as it were, for the peaceable conduct of their respective Kabyles.

The Shelluhs inhabit the Atlas mountains, and their various branches south of Marocco; they live generally in walled habitations, or in towns, and are, for the most part, occupied in husbandry like the Berebbers, though differing from them in their language,[126] dress, and manners; they live almost entirely on (Assoua) barley meal made into gruel, and (Zimeta) barley roasted or granulated, which they mix with cold water, when travelling. They occasionally indulge in (cuscasoe) a nutritive farinaceous food, made of granulated flour, and afterwards boiled by steam, and mixed with butter, mutton, fowls, and vegetables. Many families among these people are reported to be descended from the Portuguese, who formerly possessed the ports on the coast; but who, after the discovery of America, gradually withdrew thither. East of Marocco, near Dimenet, on the Atlas mountains, there is still remaining a church, having inscriptions in Latin over the entrance, supposed to have been built by the Portuguese, which, being superstitiously reported to be haunted, has escaped destruction. The language of the Shelluhs is called Amazirk.

The Shelluhs are a crafty people; they are, perhaps, better disposed towards Christians than the Moors or the Arabs. The term Kabyle applies to all cultivators of land, and to those who rear the cattle and flocks. Sometimes we discover, in traversing this country, an encampment of Bedouin Arabs, who, in their migrations to far distant countries, pitch their tents wherever they find the country productive and unoccupied; here they sojourn till their flocks have consumed all the pasture, when they strike their tents and proceed on their long journey. These people live, for the most part, on camel’s milk; they are an indolent race, and neither cultivate the earth, nor do any kind of work, attacking and plundering caravans whenever they can do it with impunity. It is these Bedouins, or Saharawans, who sometimes plunder the Akkabahs and caravans whilst traversing the Great Desert of Africa. The Arabs of Woled Abbusebah[127] place a string over the crown of the head, bringing it down behind the ears, and shave the front hair, to prevent, as is pretended, their enemies from catching hold of them. The same custom predominates among the independant Shelluhs of Idautenan, inhabitants of Atlas near Cape de Geer. See the [Map of Marocco,] lat. N. 30° 30′.

The Moors, as well as the other natives of this country, are generally of a middle stature: they have not so much nerve as the Europeans, and are, for the most part, thick and clumsy about the legs and ancles, insomuch that a well-formed leg is seldom seen among them; this may proceed from their constantly sitting cross legged, with their legs under them, like the tailors of Europe, or perhaps from their wearing no covering to their legs, which are thus exposed to all weathers. Deformed persons are rarely met with; the loose Arabian dress covers deformity, and their mode of bringing up children, (every thing being left to follow nature,) generally prevents it. Corns and deformed feet are unknown; the toes take their natural growth, and are as useful to the mechanics as their fingers. Lame people are seldom seen; but the blind are more numerous than in Europe. Both sexes have remarkably fine teeth; they universally use a dentifrice,[128] which is procured from vegetables from the interior country. Their complexion, from frequent intermarriage, or intercourse with the Soudanic race, is of all shades, from black to white. The women of Fas are as fair as the Europeans, with the exception of their eyes and hair, which are universally dark.[129] Those of Mequinas are in general so handsome, that it is a rare thing to see a young woman in that city who is not lovely or pretty. With large, black, and expressive sparkling eyes, they possess a healthy countenance, uniting the colours of the lily and the rose, that beautiful red and white so much admired by foreigners in our English ladies; indeed their beauty is proverbial, as the term Mequinasia[130] is applied to any beautiful woman of elegant form, with black sparkling eyes, and white teeth; they also possess a modesty and suavity of manners rarely met with elsewhere. It is extraordinary that the inhabitants of two great and populous cities, situated within thirty miles of each other, should discover such a physiognomical difference, as is apparent between the females of Fas and those of Mequinas, the former being generally of a sallow or pale complexion. The women of Duquella are ordinary and diminutive, whilst the men are the reverse; being tall, and well-limbed, with regular features. The men of Temsena, and Shawia, are a strong, robust race, of a copper colour: the women possess much beauty, and have features highly expressive; and the animation of the female countenance is encreased by the use of El kahol filelly, with which they tinge the eye lashes and eye brows, as already described. In these provinces they are particularly fond of dying their hands and feet with a decoction or preparation of the herb Henna,[131] which gives them an orange colour, and, in hot weather, imparts a pleasing coolness and softness to the hands, by obstructing, in a certain degree, the quickness of perspiration.

The Moorish dress resembles that of the ancient patriarchs, as represented in paintings; that of the men consists of a red cap and turban, a (Kumja) shirt, which hangs outside of the drawers, and comes down below the knee, a (Caftan) coat, which buttons close before, and down to the bottom, with large open sleeves; over which, when they go out of doors, they throw carelessly, and sometimes elegantly, a hayk or garment of white cotton, silk, or wool, five or six yards long, and five feet wide: the Arabs, however, often dispense with the caftan, and even with the shirt, wearing nothing but the hayk. The Berebbers wear drawers, and a cloak of dark blue cloth, called a Silham. The poor and penurious are contented with the Burnose, or black cloak of woollen cloth, of a close texture, made so as to resist the rain. To this dress is added a pair of yellow sandals. The dress of the women nearly resembles that of the men, except in the adjustment of the hayk, or surtout covering, and in the (Rahayat) slippers, which are scarlet or red. The hair is concealed in a black silk handkerchief, over which they wear shawls of silk or handkerchiefs of various gay colours; they wear bracelets, and armlets above the elbow, and massive rings of silver round their ancles; their ear-rings are of gold about the thickness of a goose’s quill, and set with precious stones, or coloured glass, the ring being about six inches in circumference; these ear-rings have a gaudy appearance, or, as the French express it, “font beaucoup de parure;” they wear also a number of necklaces, generally of amber beads or coral, some large, and others small, and a variety of rings on their fingers.

In their dress, they are partial to striped silks, ginghams, and cottons of particular patterns.

The people belonging to the court have a particular dress, never appearing before the Emperor in a hayk, but in a silham, or large hooded cloak of white woollen cloth; and in presence of a bashaw, or governor, the hayk is thrown down on the shoulders, which at other times covers the cap, a mode of salutation similar to that of taking off the hat among Europeans.

The religion of the Emperor of Marocco’s dominions is Islaemism, or Mohammedism,[132] which was first planted in West Barbary by the renowned Muley Dris Zerone, on the spot where the town and sanctuary of that name is built, being east of Mequinas, at the western declivity of the Atlas, near an ancient and magnificent ruin, called by the Arabs (Kasser Farawan)[133] the Ruins of Pharoah; from hence assuming the name of (Deene-el-Wasah) the unconfined law, it quickly spread itself to the shores of the Atlantic ocean, to Bled-el-jerrêde, Sigin-Messa, Suse, and Sahara. At the beginning of the present reign of Seedy Soliman ben Mohammed, a considerable body of people, who professed Deism, sprung up, and spread themselves over the northern provinces, exclaiming (la Illah ila Allah) There is no God but the true God; in distinction from the Mohammedan, whose creed is (la Illah ila Allah, wa Mohammed, arrasule, Allah), There is no God but the true God, and Mohammed is his prophet. The Emperor, however, by discouraging such tenets, found no difficulty in annihilating this sect.

Throughout the country are discovered buildings of an octagonal form, with domes of stone, or plastered with lime; these are called (Zawiat) Sanctuaries: and attached to each is a piece of ground, uninclosed, for the interment of the dead. The priest or saint, who is called el fakeer, or maraboot, superintends divine service and the burial of the dead, and is often referred to for the adjusting of disputes or controversies. Criminals taking refuge in these consecrated places are screened from the hand of justice; and the opulent men of the country often, for security, deposit their treasure in them. The toleration of the western Arabs and Moors is such, that the Emperor (although religiously disposed himself) will allow, on proper application being made, any sect which does not acknowledge a plurality of gods, to appropriate a place to public worship;[134] and even the more ignorant and bigotted Mohammedans maintain, that every man should be allowed to worship God according to his own conscience, or agreeably to the religion of his ancestors. They have a rooted contempt for all who change their religion, even if it be to Islaemism; such people are distinguished by the appellation of (el Aluge) Renegades, who, after having embraced the Mohammedan faith, are obliged to practise a system of dissimulation, and to affect more than ordinary contempt for Christians, in order to appear islaemized, and to prevent their being harassed and upbraided for their want of faith in Mohammed.

This people have a particular aversion to the sound of bells, originating perhaps from their being peculiar to the (Ajemi) Barbarians,[135] as they denominate Christians; or because Mohammed reprobated the ancient trumpet of the Jews, as well as the rattel of the oriental Christians, and substituted the human voice to call people to prayer: accordingly a man (denominated El Muden) goes to the top of the tower of each (Jamâa) mosque, and exclaims with a loud voice, first to the east, or towards Mecca, and then to the south, west, and north, the following words (Allah kabeer! A’shed-en, la illa ila Allah, Mohammed arrasule Allah; haiala essla, Allah kabeer. Allah!) God is great; witness that there is no God but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet: come to prayers: God is great. God![136]

This religious ceremony is performed several times a day, and the different prayers are called (Sala’at el fejir) prayers at the dawn of day; (Sala’at el dohor) prayers at half-past one o’clock, P.M.; (Sala’at el assar) prayers at four o’clock, P.M.; (Sala’at el mogorb) prayers at sun-setting; and (Sala’at el ashaw) prayers an hour and an half after sun-setting. The principal of these prayers is the Sala’at el dohor, when all such as are desirous of being thought true Mohammedans go to the (Jamâa) mosque, on entering which, every one must take off his slippers. Every (Jma)[137] Friday, the Mufti preaches a discourse on religion, similar to the sermons of Christian priests. The mosques have square towers adjoining the body of the building; the principal side faces Mecca, on which is erected a flag-staff: and a white flag called (el Alem) the Signal, is hoisted every day at twelve o’clock, to warn the people out of hearing, or at a great distance, to prepare, by the necessary preliminary ablutions[138], to prostrate themselves before God at the Dohor service of prayer. At the dawn of day on every (Jma) Friday, the (Muden) man who announces the prayers from the summit of the principal mosque, chants a hymn out of the Koran, which being scientifically sung, in the stillness of the morning, makes a most pleasing impression on the mind. This hymn is concluded with the annunciation of the unity of God, and the glory of heaven, impressing the mind of the Mohammedan with that grand fundamental principle of Islaemism, the unity of God.

The people of this empire being born subjects of an arbitrary despot, they may be said to have no established laws; they know no other than the will of the prince, which is called (Shra el Mukkuzzen) military law, or (Amer Seedna) our Lord’s decree; and if this should deviate, as it sometimes does, from the moral principles laid down in the Koran, it must nevertheless be obeyed; for no appeal can be admitted against Amer Seedna, unless his Imperial Majesty should discover an error in judgment, in which case he, and he alone, can alter the decree. Where the Emperor resides, he administers justice, in person, generally twice, and sometimes four times a week, in the (M’shoire) place of audience, whither all complaints are carried:[139] here access is easy; he listens to every one, foreigners or subjects, men or women, rich or poor; there is no distinction, every one has a right to appear before him, and boldly to explain the nature of his case; and although his person is considered as sacred, and established custom obliges the subject to prostrate himself, and to pay him rather adoration than respect, yet every complainant may tell his story without the least hesitation or timidity; indeed, if any one is abashed, or appears diffident, his cause is weakened in proportion. Judgment is always prompt, decisive, plausible, and generally correct.

Civil law is administered by the (Cadi’s) judges, who have attached to their court several (Lokiels) attornies; some of whom manage civil controversies, others misdemeanors, and others matters relating to religion, marriages, divorces, &c. These controversies are decided by the laws of the Koran, than which, and the commentaries thereon, they have no other written law. When two persons are engaged in a law-suit, they retain their respective attornies; if they cannot settle the dispute, they go to the Cadi, who generally sets on the ground at the gate of his house, where any one may be present. The two disputants stand before him, surrounded by their respective friends; the plaintiff speaks first, the defendant replies: in these law-suits the respective claims of the suitors are investigated. The Arabs (however ignorant they may be in other respects) defend themselves, whether right or wrong, so long as they have hope of gain, or fear of loss; but their well laid plans to conceal the truth, and elude the purposes of justice, are often exposed and rendered abortive by the penetrating sagacity with which their pretensions are investigated by the Cadi. The Cadi takes the evidence of the witnesses, and pronounces sentence, which is sometimes without appeal. The culprit is then taken into custody till he has satisfied the law; but in cases where he is entitled to an appeal, it is made to the Emperor, who takes the opinion of the (L’Alemma) learned, and decides the controversy by pronouncing judgment. If the crime be punishable by death, the sentence is either executed, or the criminal is delivered over to the aggrieved, and may then purchase of him his life, by money or contrition.

In places remote from the Emperor’s court, the (Kalif) viceregent, or bashaw, has his M’shoire, where he administers justice, sometimes according to the laws of the Koran, and at others as his caprice dictates; for the same imperious despotism which the Emperor too frequently exercises over his bashaws and alkaids, is exercised by them over those who fall under their government; and the same is done again by their subalterns, when they have it in their power; thus tyranny proceeds progressively from the prince to the lowest of his officers: these petty tyrants are dispersed over the whole empire, and often give sanction to their extortions by effecting them in the name of their master; the accumulation of wealth is the grand object of all their desires; when they learn from their emissaries, or spies, that an individual has acquired considerable property, they contrive to find out some cause of accusation against him, and by that means extort money from him. It often happens, however, that those who amass the greatest sums in this way enjoy their ill gotten wealth but a very short time; some unexpected order from the Emperor, accusing them of crimes or misdemeanors, is made a pretext for depriving them, in their turn, of their property, which his majesty never fails to inform them can be of no use to them, being more than sufficient to procure the necessaries of life, and ought therefore to belong to the (Biet el Mel el Mooselmin) Mohammedan treasury, into which it is accordingly delivered, never more to return to its former possessor.

The influence of this mode of government upon the people is such as might naturally be expected; they are suspicious, deceitful, and cruel; they have no respect for their neighbours, but will plunder one another whenever it is in their power; they are strangers to every social tie and affection, for their hearts are scarcely susceptible of one tender impression; the father fears the son, the son the father; and this lamentable mistrust, and want of confidence, diffuses itself throughout the whole community.

The pride and arrogance of the Moors is unparalleled; for though they live in the most deplorable state of ignorance, slavery, and barbarism, yet they consider themselves the first people in the world, and contemptuously term all others barbarians. Their sensuality knows no bounds: by the laws of the Koran, they are allowed four wives, and as many concubines as they are able to support, but such is their wretched depravity, that they indulge in the most unnatural and abominable propensities;[140] in short, every vice that is disgraceful and degrading to human nature, is to be found amongst them.

It must be confessed, however, that some of the well educated Moors are courteous and polite, and are possessed of great suavity of manners. They are affable and communicative where they repose confidence; and if in conversation the subject of discussion be serious, and the parties become warm in dispute, they have generally the prudence to turn the subject in a delicate manner; they are slow at taking offence, but when irritated, are noisy and implacable.

There is one noble trait in the character of this people which I cannot avoid mentioning, that is fortitude under misfortune; this the Moor possesses in an eminent degree; he never despairs; no bodily suffering, no calamity, however great, will make him complain; he is resigned in all things to the will of God, and waits in patient hope for an amelioration of his condition. In illustration of this, I will take the liberty to relate the following anecdote, as it will also tend to show the great risks to which merchants are exposed in traversing this country, and Sahara, or the Great Desert.

A Fas merchant (with whom I had considerable transactions) went, with all his property, on a commercial speculation from Fas to Timbuctoo; and after remaining at the latter place a sufficient time to dispose of and barter his effects for gold dust and gum Soudan, he set out on his return to Fas; after passing the Desert, he began to congratulate himself on his good fortune and great success, when suddenly a party of Arabs attacked the (cafila) caravan, and plundered all who belonged to it, leaving the Fas merchant destitute of every thing but the clothes he had on his back. During the interregnum, between the death of the Sultan Yezzid and the proclamation of the present Sultan Soliman, this man was plundered again on his way to Mogodor, whither he was going to discharge some debts, and to dispose of gum and other Soudanic produce. Four wives and a numerous family of children rendered his case peculiarly distressing; yet, when condoling with him a few days after his misfortunes had happened, he very patiently observed (Ash men doua, Allah bra; u la illah, ila Allah), What remedy is there? God willed it so, and there is none but God. This man afterwards collected together what merchandize he could procure on credit, and proceeded again to Timbuctoo, where he realized much property, and travelling therewith through Wangara and Houssa to Egypt, he was plundered a third time of all he possessed, near Cairo, and reduced to the greatest distress: this last misfortune he bore with the same fortitude as the former. He is now, however, one of the principal merchants established at Timbuctoo.

The Moors are equal by birth; they know no difference of rank except such as is derived from official employments,[141] on resigning which the individual mixes again with the common class of citizens; the meanest man in the nation may thus aspire, without presumption, to the hand of the daughter of the most opulent, and accident, or the caprice of the prince, may precipitate the latter into misery, and elevate the former to prosperity and honour.

The Moors are, for the most part, more cleanly in their persons, than in their garments. They wash their hands before every meal, which, as they use no knives or forks, they eat with their fingers: half a dozen persons sit round a large bowl of cuscasoe, and, after the usual ejaculation (Bismillah) “In the name of God!” each person puts his hand to the bowl, and taking up the food, throws it, by a dexterous jerk, into his mouth, without suffering his fingers to touch the lips. However repugnant this may be to our ideas of cleanliness, yet the hand being always washed, and never touching the mouth in the act of eating, these people are by no means so dirty as Europeans have sometimes hastily imagined. They have no chairs or tables in their houses, but sit cross-legged on carpets and cushions; and at meals, the dish or bowl of provisions is placed on the floor. They have an excellent dish, which they call El Kalia; it is prepared without salt; the meat is cut in long slips, about an inch wide, and hung in the air for a few days, when it is put into jars, which are filled with clarified butter (Smin): this preparation will keep several years; it is used by the rich and affluent when crossing the Desert to Timbuctoo, or when on a journey to Mecca, and indeed whenever they travel through a country where food is not readily procurable. Bread is seldom used in the traverse of the Desert, but certain flat cakes, similar to crumpets, but without leaven, are kneaded, and put on embers, where they are half baked, and eaten with honey and butter by the merchants and traders who accompany the caravans.

The women are not less cleanly than the men; for besides performing the usual ablutions before and after meals, they wash their face, hands, arms, legs, and feet, two or three times a day, which contributes greatly to their beauty. The poorer classes, however, look deplorable, and excite disgust. The faces of the old women appear shrivelled, from the immoderate use of cosmetics and paint during their youth.

The chief delight of the women is to attend diligently to their children, and a numerous posterity is fervently desired. In obedience to the injunction of Mohammed, mothers suckle their children two years.[142] When circumstances oblige them to take a nurse, she is not treated as a servant, but becomes one of the family, and passes her days among the children she has suckled, by whom she is ever afterwards cherished and protected; the children are taught to consider her as their own relation, and she is called (Emuh d’el Hellib) the milk mother: in case of future adversity, she never applies ineffectually for succour to these children, who consider it a duty incumbent on them to assist her to the utmost extent of their power. These milk-mothers are chosen from well formed, young, and healthy women. The new born infant is not swaddled up in a profusion of clothes, but is laid naked on a carpet, and exposed in a lofty and spacious apartment, where, breathing freely, it gradually acquires strength, while daily ablution renders it vigorous and healthy. The females are not taught to read or write, but learn early, and from experience, the domestic offices of the household; their body and limbs are never confined by tight dresses, their garments are loose and easy, suffering the limbs to have free action, and the body to take its natural form; they are occupied in grinding the corn, baking the bread, and preparing the food for their husbands and family. Ancient custom, and a predilection for the manners of their primogenitors, rendering these necessary occupations pleasant and agreeable.

The male children, whose mode of education is equal throughout the empire, on attaining the eighth year (not eighth day, as some have asserted,) are circumcised, and then begin to study the Koran. He is taught to fear and adore God, to respect old age and his parents; he is initiated in the principles of hospitality, which virtues being inculcated at school, and being afterwards seen constantly practised in his father’s family, then cannot fail to be, at the age of puberty, indelibly engraven on his heart. His inclination directs him to learn the useful arts, the care of the flocks, the tillage of the soil, or the exercise of arms; those engaged in the latter are particularly noticed by the Emperor, and if they discover a Machiavellian or despotic policy, they are generally promoted to the government of some province or town.

The Moors are not very fond of games or diversions; they are often seen sitting in the streets for hours together, sometimes in a dull lethargic humour, at others so vociferous and full of action with each other, that a person unacquainted with their manner would suppose they were going to fight.

Their usual games are leap-frog, jumping, and foot-ball; the last is the favourite diversion, at which they do not seek to send the ball to a goal, but kick it up, and amuse themselves with it, without any definitive purpose.

Of their military exercises the (lab el Borode) riding full speed, and firing, is the only one; this is performed by all those who keep horses; a party starts off together, and running full gallop fire their muskets, stopping short close to some wall, those being considered the best horsemen who approach nearest the wall, and stop shortest; they then return, load again, and renew the race: this is the mode after which they charge an enemy.

In the markets and public streets are seen expert jugglers, who perform astonishing feats of leger-de-main with most curious and unaccountable deceptions: the province of Suse is most celebrated for these arts.

Certain theatrical orators go about the most busy parts of the cities, and arrest the attention of the passengers by declamation. Some of these players personify all the various characters of a drama with exquisite spirit and humour. In the evening these amusements are laid aside and the Assfæhna, or dancing boys, excite the attention of the populace; these boys are accompanied by a governor, or master, who is indispensibly of a musical turn, and is accompanied by a kettle-drum, a flute made of a reed, and similar in sound to the pandean pipe, and an instrument with two strings, somewhat like the Greek lyre. These dancers are habited in gaudy attire, and move their feet in dancing without taking them off the ground, but gradually proceeding forwards, till they, by a signal from their chief, vault into the air, and perform various evolutions somewhat similar to the tumblers at Sadler’s Wells. Decency forbids the recital of what usually occurs after this entertainment is terminated.

Amongst the Arabs the girls dance in a very superior style; the Arabian ladies of the Mograffra tribe, as well as those of Woled Abbusebah, eminently excel. I remember passing a night in one of their douars, on the confines of Sahara, with a large party of Arabs, and instead of going to sleep, the Sheik of the douar sent for six elegant females, who engaged our admiration till the morning. Judging of the movements of these dancing Arabs with the sentiments of an Englishman, they would be thought somewhat lascivious; but the manners and customs of the country reconciles to propriety these spirited movements. Signor Andrea de Christo, a Venetian merchant, was with me, and declared that he had never seen better dancing in Italy.

When a Mooselmin is inclined to marry, he makes enquiry of some duena or confidential servant respecting the person of her mistress, and if he receive a satisfactory description of the lady, an opportunity is sometimes procured to see her at a window, or other place; this interview generally determines whether the parties are to continue their regards; if the suitor be satisfied with the lady, he seeks an occasion of communicating his passion to the father, and proposes to marry his daughter. The father’s consent being obtained, he sends presents to the lady, according to his circumstances, which being accepted, the parties are supposed to be betrothed, and marriage follows.

Of the marriage ceremony much has been said by various authors. The bridegroom is mounted on a horse, with his face covered, surrounded by his friends, and those of the parents, who run their horses, and fire their muskets at the feet or face of the bridegroom; the (Tabla) kettle drum, the (Erb’eb) triangle, an instrument similar to the Greek lyre, (having however but two strings,) and a rude kind of flute, form the band of music; whilst the friends of the married party dance and jump about, twirling their muskets in the air, and otherwise discovering their satisfaction. This ceremony being terminated, the parties go to the house of feasting, where the evening is passed in conviviality, till the bride and bridegroom retire to rest. The sheets are afterwards produced, somewhat indecently, as a proof of the virginity of the bride, and exhibited in triumph to the relations.

It is not expected that the woman should have a fortune or a settlement; but if the father be rich, he generally gives a dowry to his daughter, and a quantity of pearls, rubies, diamonds, &c. The dowry remains the property of the female, and in case of a divorce, by consent of the husband, is returned to her: these separations proceed from various causes, as barrenness, the disappointment of expectation, incapability of performing the domestic duties, or incompatibility of disposition. Separation, however, not originating in the above causes, is reprobated as immoral and disreputable. A plurality of wives is allowed in all Mohammedan countries; the lawful number is limited by the Koran to four, in addition to which they are allowed as many concubines as they can support; in this latitude of luxury, however, they seldom indulge. The Emperor, the princes, and some of the bashaws, have often four wives, but even with them this number encreases gradually; thus, the first wife, after having had a child, or when her bloom has passed, or the marks of age appear, makes way for a young one, who is taught to respect the former, who still remains mistress of the household; when the second lady loses her bloom, she is supplanted by a third, and the third by a fourth; so that the rich and independant Mooselmin, however old he be himself, has generally a young wife, or a young concubine,[143] to cherish him; and this, they say, enables them to enjoy life longer than the Christians; for they maintain, that as an old woman destroys the vigour of a man, a young woman encreases it; but these luxurious debauchees, these devotees to the pleasures of the fair sex, from their irregular excesses, are often, about the age of fifty, and sometimes before, totally incapable of performing the duties of the matrimonial contract; under these circumstances, stimulating drugs, and aromatic compositions are in vain resorted to, and the wretched man becomes at once the victim of inflamed desire, and impotency.

It must not, however, be imagined, that this insatiable desire for young females pervades the mass of the people; Mooselmin, in general, are satisfied with one wife, and, in a tract of country possessing a population of one hundred thousand souls, a hundred men will scarcely be found who keep four. Such is the state of polygamy in this country.

With regard to the (Kadeem[144]) concubines, they are generally black women, purchased originally at Timbuctoo; they reside in the house with the wives, performing the menial offices of the domestic establishment. The children of these concubines, when not the master’s offspring, are born slaves, and inherited by him, who either keeps them for the purpose of marrying them to some black slave of his own, or sells them in the public market; this latter mode of disposing of them, however, is seldom practised, except in cases of necessity; for although the law gives great latitude to masters having slaves, yet the children are generally brought up under the mother’s care, and become members of the family; by serving at an early age in domestic occupations, they earn their living by their work; for in a country where the necessaries of life are prohibited from exportation,[145] the expense of maintenance is inconsiderable: so that a large and numerous family is a blessing, and the more numerous the greater the blessing. Living on simple food, for the most part of the farinaceous kind, their appetites are easily satisfied: their wants are few, and their resources many.

This system of prohibiting the exportation of provisions does not, however, as might be supposed, reduce their value; for it has been observed, in the reign of Seedy Mohammed ben Abd Allah, when the prohibition was enforced only when a scarcity was anticipated, that during the prohibition the price of corn rose; the Arab farmers, preferring a market and sale to Europeans for dollars, to the tardiness of sale for domestic consumption, kept their corn in their Matamores till an exportation was again permitted, and then brought it to market. Neither is there policy in the prohibition, (except the Mohammedan principle of policy be admitted, that of promoting the poverty of the people or community), for by it the agriculturists not having a sufficient market for the whole produce of his land, he cultivates but a third or a fourth part, leaving the remaining part fallow; and even this fourth part is found to produce quite as much as is necessary for the domestic consumption. The same argument applies to the other articles of produce, viz. sweet almonds, dates, raisins, figs, olive oil, &c. Accordingly, since their prohibition, the immense plantations of these articles in all the provinces, particularly in Suse, where they abound, have been neglected, and are gradually decreasing, the produce being more than the domestic demand, insomuch, that the price is insufficient to pay the labour of gathering; for among this abstemious and parsimonious people, it would be difficult to find the individual who would give two shillings for the same quantity of provision of one kind, that he could procure of another kind for one shilling.

The women are not so much confined as has been generally imagined; they frequently visit their relations and friends,[146] and have various ways of facilitating intrigues; thus, if a lady’s (rahayat) sandals be seen at the door of an apartment, the husband himself dare not enter; he retires into another room, and directs the female slave to inform him when her (Lela) lady is disengaged, which is known by the sandals being taken away. On the other hand when an ill-disposed husband becomes jealous or discontented with his wife, he has too many opportunities of treating her cruelly; he may tyrannize over her without control; no one can go to her assistance, for no one is authorised to enter his Horem without permission. Jealousy or hatred rises so high in the breast of a Moor, that death is often the consequence to the wretched female who has excited (perhaps innocently) the anger of her husband. The fate of those women who are not so fortunate as to bear a male child is too often to be lamented; those who do, are treated with extraordinary respect, the father being careful not to ill-treat the mother of his son or heir. A father, however fond of his daughter, cannot assist her, even if informed of the ill-treatment she suffers; the husband alone is lord paramount: if, however, he should be convicted of murdering his wife, he would suffer death, but this is difficult to ascertain, even should she bear on her the marks of his cruelty, or dastardly conduct, for who is to detect it? Instances have been known where the woman has been cruelly beaten and put to death, and the parents have been informed of her decease as if it had been occasioned by sickness, and she has been buried accordingly; but this difficulty of bringing the men to justice holds only among the powerful bashaws and persons in the highest stations; and these, to avoid a retaliation of similar practices on their children, sometimes prefer giving their daughters in marriage to men of an inferior station in life, who are more amenable to justice.

The etiquette of the court of Marocco does not allow any man to mention the word Death to the Emperor; so that when it be necessary to communicate to him the news of the decease of any Mohammedan, the courtiers thus express themselves: (Ufah Ameruh) he has completed his destiny or his period; to which the reply is (Allah eê erhammoh) God be merciful to him. When a Jew dies, the Moors express it by (Maat bel Karan), the son of a cuckold is dead. On the death of a Christian, if he bore a good character, they say (Maat Mesquin), the inoffensive man is dead; but if he was unpopular, or disliked, (Maat el Kaffer) the infidel is dead.

All persons at this court who have no faith in Mohammed being considered as infidels, a stigma is attached to their names when uttered before the Emperor; accordingly they say (Lihudi ashawk asseedi. El Kaffer ashawk asseedi.) He is a Jew, ashawk, Master. He is an Infidel, ashawk, Master. This term ashawk is an Arabic idiom, and signifies, “I beg pardon for mentioning so degraded or contemptible a name in my master’s presence.”

There is a ridiculous prejudice throughout this country, which extends as far as the Nile El Abeede, or Nile of Soudan, in considering the word five as indecorous; it is therefore never mentioned in the Emperor’s presence, nor even to any prince, bashaw, or powerful man: the speaker expressing himself thus (Arbat u Wahud) i.e. Four and one.

The number 5 is emblematical of the hand of power or tyranny; so that the poor Jews, who are treated in this country somewhat worse than dogs in Christian countries, have a hand with the fingers spread out, painted on their doors or houses, as an amulet to charm away oppression. Accordingly (Khumsa alik), “Five be upon thee, or the hand of power be upon thee,” is a curse or malediction frequently conferred by the Moors on the oppressed Jews.

The imperial revenue consists of the following imposts:

1st. (Ska u Lashor,) Two per cent. on camels, horses, mules, asses, cattle, sheep, goats, &c. and ten per cent. on corn and the produce of land. The payment of this branch of the revenue which is the most considerable, is made either in cash or in kind, optional in the subject.

2nd. (Daira’s and Sokra’s,) Fines and presents, viz. Fines levied at discretion by the bashaws of provinces, alkaids of cities and towns, and douars, and others employed by them; these consist in satisfaction for offences; thus, if two men quarrel, and blood be spilt in the fray, half the property of the aggressor is often exacted as a fine for disturbing the peace. If a traveller be robbed, the douar, or encampment, where the robbery was committed, is fined in double the sum, viz. the sum stolen is returned to the robbed, and an equal sum is paid to the bashaw for the imperial treasury. The inhabitants of the douar are then left to discover the robbers, and recover of them the property stolen; the beneficial effects of this salutary law must be evident to every man, but particularly to those who have frequently travelled through this country, and by their own experience have seen and felt the influence which it has on every individual, and the interest that is diffused throughout the community to protect travellers from plunder. In an extensive champaign country like this, where the population of the provinces consists of encampments in the plains, open to the attack of robbers, and undefended, there would be no security were it not for the good effects of this law, which renders every individual a guard to the property of the person sojourning in the district of which he is an inhabitant.

A traveller may exact a fine from a douar for inhospitable treatment, by making a complaint to the bashaw under whose government the Sheik of the douar lives.

3d. Legal disputes. Considerable sums are presented to the bashaws, alkaids, &c. to procure their attention to the interest of the parties disputing, and to accelerate the termination. Thus a douceur to a bashaw of a few hundred dollars, will sometimes give a man as much advantage over his antagonist, as would be gained in England by the retaining of an eminent counsel to plead his cause. These douceurs are often paid to ministers by persons desirous to obtain some privilege from the Emperor, and are usually regulated according to the rank of the applicant, and the importance of the favour to be conferred. The ministers, and other persons in authority, do not conceal their operations; but will tell you what you are to pay for such a privilege or favour, which has at least this good effect, that you have a certain quid pro quo, and you are not seduced, under false promises, to attend on ministers ineffectually: your business is expedited generally to your satisfaction. A knowledge of the ministers, and of the spirit of the court, as well as the character of the Emperor, is, perhaps, indispensibly necessary to ensure success. When these sums and douceurs have been repeatedly given, and have, by accumulation, become considerable, a pretext is seldom wanting to attack these bashaws, cadis, alkaids, and other officers, for some misdemeanor, or for mal-administration of justice, and they are accordingly heavily mulcted; but they readily pay the fine, which thus ultimately forms a part of the imperial revenue, that they may again enter into their oppressive offices.

In cases of dispute, which come into the province of the civil law, the cadi determines the case; and the retaining, in such cases, able (Lokiels) pleaders, is attended with similar advantages, as with us. In these disputes, however, a paper or two, written in the most concise manner, is all that is necessary; the wheels of justice are not clogged with such volumes of cases and briefs as with us.

4th. Immense presents are occasionally made by the bashaws, alkaids, &c. to the Emperor, to secure the imperial favor, and to enable them to hold their places against the attacks continually made by others, who spare no expense in presenting, through the ministers, their claims for preferment. The bashaw Ben Hammed, who governed Duquella in the reign of the present Emperor’s father, Seedy Mohammed, every Friday, as the Emperor came out of the mosque, presented him with a large wedge of pure gold of Soudan.

5thly. The fish called Shebbel (similar to salmon), the produce of the great rivers, viz. the El Kose, the Seboo, the Morbeya, the Tensift, and the river Suse, pay to the imperial treasury a heavy duty; but that duly is generally farmed to some wealthy individual, who pays about 20 per cent. on the value of the fish caught, or gives so much per annum for the privilege of fishing in the rivers.

6th. El Beb, or gate-duty, an impost of from (one blanquil to two ounces) 1½d. to 1s. on every camel-load of merchandize carried out or brought into any city or town.

7th. (Gizzia,) The poll-tax levied on the Jews, viz. the pro rata of every Jew is calculated according to his property, by a committee appointed by themselves. This tax may amount to about ten per cent. on their income or profits.

8th. (El Worella.) The hereditary tax. The Emperor is heir to all the estates of his subjects who die without heirs; so that at the termination of the plague, in 1800, he gained an incalculable accession of wealth in gold, silver, and in estates, many of which latter he has since given to the (Jamaat) mosques. This property of the mosques is called Wak’f, a term significant of any thing, the right of which continues in the original proprietor, but the profit issuing from it belongs to some charitable institution; so that the mosque lands are now extensive, and, consequently, the priests are amply provided for.

9th. Duties on the importation of merchandize from Europe, and on the exportation of the produce of the country. On the former, the regulation is generally 10 per cent., which is paid in kind, except only on iron, steel, Buenos Ayres hydes, lead, and sulphur, which pay a duty on importation of three dollars per quintal. The duties on the produce of the country are regulated by the option of the Emperor.

The duty	on	Wax now is		12²⁄₁₂	per cent.
	on	Bitter Almonds		2
	on	Gum		3
		Oil	⎫ ⎪ ⎪ ⎬ ⎪ ⎪ ⎭	now prohibitedfrom exportation.
		Sweet Almonds
		Raisins
		Figs
		Dates
		Corn
		And all kinds of Provisions

10th. All ambassadors, envoys, consuls, merchants, and, in short, every individual who presents himself to the Emperor, whether in a public or private capacity, must necessarily be accompanied with a present, a custom established from time immemorial in Africa, as well as in the East; and these presents are in proportion to the magnitude of the negociation. The king of Spain, during the reign of Seedy Mohammed ben Abd Allah, the father of the reigning Emperor, sent presents to an enormous amount, in order to purchase the friendly alliance of the Emperor, and to induce him to continue the exportation of grain to Spain.

11th. In addition to all these sources of revenue, may be mentioned the duties on the exportation of cattle and vegetables to our garrison of Gibraltar, and on a few similar supplies to Spain and Portugal.

Before the present Emperor ascended the throne, the produce of the country was allowed to be exported from all the ports on the coast, and formed a very considerable source of revenue; the duties on grain alone, from Dar El Beida, in one year, amounted to 722,000 dollars. The exportation from the ports of Arzilla, El Araiche, Mamora, Rabat, Fedella, Azamor, Mazagan, Saffy, Mogodor, and Santa Cruz, in Suse, were not quite so considerable. The present prohibition of the exportation of grain, together with all the articles enumerated above, to which may be added, wool, flax, and cotton, cannot be a proof of the Emperor’s avarice, a passion ascribed to him by many; as, by allowing their exportation, and encouraging their cultivation, an accession of several millions would annually be added to the revenue of his empire.

FOOTNOTES:

[126]Some persons have affirmed that the Berebber and Shelluh languages are one and the same. I had considerable difficulty in procuring incontestible proofs to the contrary; a specimen of the difference will be seen by the vocabulary in the chapter on languages.

[127]Lat. N. 22°. See [Map of the tract across the Desert.]

[128]This dentifrice has been imported lately, and is sold at Bacon’s Medicinal Warehouse, No. 150, Oxford Street.

[129]Whenever a blue, or gray-eyed Mooress is seen, she is always suspected to be the descendant of some Christian renegade.

[130]Mequinasia, a woman of Mequinas.

[131]This is the Lawsonia inermis of Linnæus.

[132]See some observations on this religion in a subsequent chapter.

[133]When I visited these ruins, in my journey from the Sanctuary of Muley Dris Zerone, near to which they are situated, in the plains below, the jealousy of the (Stata) protecting guide sent by the Fakeers to see me safe to the confines of their district was excited, and he endeavoured to deter me from making any observations, by insinuating that the place was the haunt of large and venomous serpents, scorpions, &c. A great number of cauldrons and kettles filled with gold and silver coins have been excavated from these ruins.

[134]Besides the Catholic establishments in Marocco and Mequinas, before mentioned, there is one at Tangier, and another at Mogodor.

[135]Ajem in Arabic signifies Barbarian. Ajemi in the same language signifies the Europeans; Wosh kat douee bel Ajemi? Do you speak the Barbarian or European language?

[136]Mohammedans utter the word Allah with great respect, sounding it long, and making a full stop after uttering it; they never use the pronoun to signify the Supreme Being, but always repeat the noun, and generally begin and end all religious sentences with the word Allah.

[137]Jma signifies the conclusion of any thing; as the conclusion of the week, and is the Arabic name appropriated to Friday, or the Mohammedan day of rest; from the radical word Jamaa, to collect or gather together. The Mohammedans name the days of the week, first day, second day, and so on, calling Sunday El hed, i.e. the first day; El thenine the second day, or Monday, &c. They do not entirely shut their shops on Friday, but work less than on any other day; they refuse, however, altogether to work for Christians, unless particularly or clandestinely feed, when they will condescend to do almost any thing.

[138]O believers! before ye pray, wash your faces, your hands, and your arms to the elbows, and wipe yourselves from head to feet. Vide Koran.

[139]It is customary here, as in the East, for every person to accompany his complaint with (el Heddia) a present suited to his condition; and none must appear without something, as it would be not only contrary to the established usages, but highly disrespectful; even such a trifle as three or more eggs is accepted.

[140]By the laws of the Koran, these crimes are punishable by death; but they are so generally indulged in, as to be mutually connived at.

[141]Persons bearing the name of Mohammed, which is generally given to the first male child born in marriage, are always addressed by the title of Seedy, which answers to Signor, or Monsieur; even the Emperor himself observes this towards the meanest subject that may happen to appear before him; when the name is Achmet, Aly, Said, Kossem, &c. this honourable distinction is observed or not, according to the situation and character of the person addressed. The Jews, however, whatever their condition, must address every Mooselmin with the term Seedy, or incur the danger of being knocked down; while, on the other hand, the lowest Mooselmin would consider it a degradation to address a Jew of the highest rank or respectability by this title.

[142]“Let the mother suckle her child full two years, if the child does not quit the breast; but she shall be permitted to wean it with the consent of the husband.” Vide Koran.

[143]These young wives and concubines often find opportunities clandestinely to cuckold their men or husbands.

[144]The k guttural, for when not guttural, the word signifies old or worn out.

[145]The supply of the garrison of Gibraltar, with bullocks, &c. excepted.

[146]Women of rank, who reside in the towns, seldom walk abroad, it being considered a degradation to the wife of a gentleman to be seen walking in the street; when, however, they are going to pay a visit, they have a servant, or slave, to accompany them.

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CHAPTER VIII.

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.[147] Some persons, who were there at the time it broke out, have confidently ascribed it to infected merchandize 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,[148] the destruction of which was followed by the (jedrie) small-pox, 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.

In the month of April, 1799, a dreadful plague, of a most destructive nature, manifested itself in the city of Old Faz, 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 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 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 height, about eight hundred each day: the ruined, but still extensive city of Marocco,[149] lost one thousand each day; the populous cities of Old and New Fas diminished in population twelve or fifteen hundred each day,[150] 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.

After this violent and deadly calamity had subsided, we beheld 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, and the men of family called them in derision (el wurata) the inheritors.[151] 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,[152] 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.

The expense of labour at the same time encreased enormously,[153] 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 independant, and they were accordingly compelled to work for themselves, performing personally the menial offices of their respective families.

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, 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[154] 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 calamitous period; the hyænas, on the contrary, visited the cemeteries, and sought the dead bodies to devour them. I recommended Mr. Baldwin’s[155] invaluable remedy of olive oil, applied according to his directions; several Jews, and some Mooselmin, 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.

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 Mohammedans 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 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, 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 disorder, however, encreased 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.

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 (Genii) 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 Genii to smite me unless it were his sovereign will, and that if it were, he could effect it without the aid of Genii. On my return to town in the evening, the sandy beach, from the town-gate to the sanctuary of Seedi Mogodole,[156] 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 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 office and counting-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.

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 ammoniacum, 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 the buboes, which quickly brought them to maturity: many of the people of property took copious draughts of coffee and Peruvian bark. The Vinaigre de quatre voleurs was 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 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 deplorable state, that his feet were putrefied. 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 fœtid 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 have exhausted itself, and he began to recover his strength, which in another month was fully re-established. 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 vomitting 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.

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 beforementioned 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 administering it,[157] 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.

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 near me, 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 undoubtedly 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 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, shewing no external disfiguration, did not survive more than a few hours.

The plague, which appears necessary to carry off the overplus of encreasing population, visits this country about once in every twenty years: the last visitation was in 1799 and 1800, being more fatal than any ever before known.

The Mohammedans never postpone burying their dead more than twenty-four hours; in summer it would be offensive to keep them longer, for which reason they often inter the body a few hours after death; they first wash it, then lay it on a wooden tray, without any coffin, but covered with a shroud of cotton cloth; it is thus borne to the grave by four men, followed by the relations and friends of the deceased, chaunting, (La Allah illa Allah wa Mohammed rassul Allah.) There is no God but the true God, and Mohammed is his prophet. The body is deposited in the grave with the head towards Mecca, each of the two extremities of the sepulchre being marked by an upright stone. It is unlawful to take fees at an interment, the bier belongs to the (Jamâ) mosque, and is used, free of expense, by those who apply for it. The cemetery is a piece of ground uninclosed, attached to some sanctuary, outside of the town, for the Mohammedans do not allow the dead to be buried among the habitations of the living, or in towns; they highly venerate the burying-places, and, whenever they pass them, pray for the deceased.

Diseases.—The inhabitants of this country, besides the plague already described, are subject to many loathsome and distressing diseases.

Many of the cities and towns of Marocco are visited yearly by malignant epidemies, which the natives call fruit-fevers; they originate from their indulgence in fruit, which abounds throughout this fertile garden of the world. The fruits deemed most febrile are musk-melons, apricots, and all unripe stone fruits. Alpinus, de Medicina Egyptiorum, says, “Autumno grassantur febres pestilentiales multæ quæ subdole invadunt, et sæpe medicum et ægrum decipiunt.”

Jedrie (Small-pox).—Inoculation for this disease appears to have been known in this country long before we were acquainted with it in Europe. The Arabs of the Desert make the incision for inoculation with a sharp flint. Horses and cattle are very much subject to the jedrie: this disease is much dreaded by the natives; the patient is advised to breathe in the open air. The fatality of this disease may proceed, in a great measure, from the thickness of the skin of the Arabs, always exposed to the sun and air, which, preventing the effort which nature makes to throw the morbid matter to the surface, tends to throw it back into the circulation of the blood.

Mjinen and Baldness.—Children are frequently affected with baldness; and the falling sickness is a common disease; the women are particularly subject to it; they call it m’jinen, i.e. possessed with a spirit.

Head-ache, Bowel Complaints, and Rheumatism.—The head-ache is common, but it is only temporary, arising generally from a suddenst oppage of perspiration, and goes off again on using exercise, which, in this hot climate, immediately causes perspiration. The stomach is often relaxed with the heat, and becomes extremely painful, this they improperly call (Ujah el Kulleb) the heart ache. They are frequently complaining of gripings, and universal weakness, which are probably caused by the water they continually drink; they complain also of (Ujah el Adem) the bone-ache, rheumatism, which is often occasioned by their being accustomed to sit on the ground without shoes.

(Bu Telleese) Nyctalopia.—This ophthalmic disease is little known in the northern provinces; but in Suse and Sahara it prevails. A defect of vision comes on at dusk, but without pain; the patient is deprived of sight, so that he cannot see distinctly, even with the assistance of candles. During my residence at Agadeer, in the quality of agent for the ci-devant States General of the United Provinces, a cousin of mine was dreadfully afflicted with this troublesome disease, losing his sight at evening, and continuing in that state till the rising sun. A Deleim Arab, a famous physician, communicated to me a sovereign remedy, which being extremely simple, I had not sufficient faith in his prescription to give it a trial, till reflecting that the simplicity of the remedy was such as to preclude the possibility of its being injurious: it was therefore applied inwardly; and twelve hours afterwards, to my astonishment, the boy’s eyes were perfectly well, and continued so during twenty-one days, when I again had recourse to the same remedy, and it effected a cure, on one administration, during thirty days, when it again attacked him; the remedy was again applied with the same beneficial effect as before.

Ulcers and eruptions.—Schirrous ulcers, and other eruptions, frequently break out on their limbs and bodies from the heated state of the blood, which is increased by their constant and extravagant use of stimulants; for whenever they sit down to meat, the first enquiry is (Wosh Skune) Is it stimulating? if it be not, they will not touch it, be it ever so good and palatable. These eruptions often turn to leprous affections.

The Venereal Disease.—The most general disorder, however, is the venereal disease, which is said to have been unknown among them, till the period when Ferdinand King of Castille expelled the Jews from Spain, who coming over to Marocco, and suffering the Africans to cohabit with their wives and daughters, the whole empire was, as it were, inoculated with the dreadful distemper; they call it the great disease,[158] or the woman’s disorder; and it has now spread itself into so many varieties, that, I am persuaded, there is scarcely a Moor in Barbary who has not more or less of the virus in his blood; they have no effectual remedy for it; they know nothing of the specific mercury, but usually follow a course of vegetable diet for forty days, drinking during that time decoctions of sarsaparilla, which afford them a temporary relief. The heat of the climate keeping up a constant perspiration, those who have this disorder, do not suffer so much from it as persons do in Europe; and this, added to their abstaining in general from wine, and all fermented liquors, may be the cause of their being enabled to drag through life without undergoing a radical cure, though they are occasionally afflicted with aches and pains till their dissolution. From repeated infection, and extreme negligence, we sometimes see noseless faces, no remedy having been administered to exterminate the infection; ulcers, particularly on the legs, are so common, that one scarcely sees a Moor without them. I have heard many of them complain, that they had never enjoyed health or tranquillity since they were first infected. If any European surgeon happen to prescribe the specific remedy, they generally, from some inaccuracy of interpretation, want of confidence, or other cause, neglect to follow the necessary regimen; this aggravates the symptoms, and they then discontinue the medicine, from a presumption of its inefficacy; it has even been asserted that mercury does not incorporate with the blood, but passes off with the fæces, producing no salutary effect. In cases of gonnorrhœa they apply, locally, (the Hendal) coloquinth, which (assisted with tisanes and diuretics) is attended with most beneficial effects.

The Bashaw Hayanie, an old man of 100 years of age, who governed Suse and Agadeer part of the time when I was established there (and who was a favourite of the Emperor Muley Ismael) has assured me, that by compelling the Bukarie blacks to carry burdens up the mountain to the town of Agadeer, in the heat of the day, they have been cured of this disease. If this be true, it can be attributed only to the profuse perspiration induced by violent exercise in a hot country. The constant and general use of the warm bath may also tend to assuage the virulence of this enemy to the human constitution.

Leprosy.—Leprosy, called Jeddem, is very prevalent in Barbary; people affected with it are common in the province of Haha, where oil argannick is much used, which, when not properly prepared, is said to heat the blood.[159] The lepers of Haha are seen in parties of ten or twenty together, and approach travellers to beg charity. In the city of Marocco there is a separate quarter, outside of the walls, inhabited by lepers only. In passing through this place, I observed that its inhabitants were not generally disfigured in personal appearance; the women, when young, are extremely handsome; some few have a livid, spotted, or cracked skin: they are sometimes flushed in the face, and at others pale: when they appear abroad, they assist their complexion with (el akker) rouge, and (el kahol) lead ore, with which latter they blacken their eye-lashes and eye brows, and puncture the chin from the tip to the middle of the lower lip; but this practice, which they think increases their beauty, rather disfigures them.

Leprosy being considered epidemical, those who are affected with it are obliged to wear a badge of distinction whenever they leave their habitations, so that a straw hat, with a very wide brim, tied on in a particular manner, is the signal for persons not to approach the wearer; the lepers are seen in various parts of Barbary, sitting on the ground with a wooden bowl before them, begging; and in this way they collect sometimes a considerable sum for such a country: they intermarry with each other; and although the whole system is said to be contaminated, yet they seldom discover any external marks of disease, except those before-mentioned, and generally a paucity or total want of eye-brows. On any change of weather, and particularly if the sky be overcast, and the air damp, they will be seen sitting round a fire, warming their bones, as they term it, for they ache all over till the weather resumes its wonted salubrity.

Elephantiasis and Hydrocele.—Persons affected with the elephantiasis, dropsy, and hydrocele, are frequently met with, particularly about Tangier, the water of which is said to occasion the latter; and those who are recently affected with it, affirm, that it leaves them on removing from the place.[160] During my stay once at Tangier, after travelling through the country, I observed one of my servants labouring under the disorder; on speaking to him about it, and regretting that there was no physician to afford him relief, he laughed, and made light of it, saying he hoped I would not stay long in Tangier, as it was occasioned by the water of the place, and would leave him as soon as we departed; which was actually the case, for two days after our departure it had almost entirely subsided. The elephantiasis has been thought a species of leprosy, for it desiccates the epidermis of the legs, which swell and appear rugous.

(El Murrar) Bile.—This is a very general disease, as well as all those which proceed from a too copious secretion of bile. The Jews, and the Mohammedans who are not scrupulous, use brandy made from raisins or figs to remove the bilious sensation, which operates as an anodyne. Senna, rhubarb, and succotrine aloes, mixed with honey, are administered with temporary success.

(Bu Saffra) Jaundice.—Men, as well as horses, having the jaundice, are punctured with a hot iron, through the skin, at the joints. I have seen both cured in six or seven days by this operation.

(Tunia) Tape-worm.—This is a disease to which the people are particularly subject; they take large quantities of (El Assel ou Assheh) honey and worm-seed, which produces beneficial effects. The children are generally afflicted with this disease; the eyes appear hollow, with a whiteness of the adjacent skin.

(Bu Wasir), Hæmorrhoides.—This disease is very general; refrigerants are applied for its cure internally, and an unguent, composed of oil of almonds, and the juice of the opuntia, or prickly-pear tree.

Hydrophobia is entirely unknown in West Barbary, which is the more extraordinary, as dogs abound every where, are frequently destitute of water, and suffer intolerably from heat and exposure to the sun.

Hernia.—Cases of hernia are sometimes met with, though not so frequently as in Europe.

They have no effectual remedy for any of the before mentioned diseases; their whole materia medica consists, with little exception, of herbs and other vegetables, from their knowledge of the medical virtues of which much might be learned by European physicians. Bleeding is a general remedy for various complaints; the healthy let blood once a year. Scarification on the forehead, at the back of the head, below the root of the hair, on the loins, the breast, and the legs is generally practised in cases of violent head-ache proceeding from an obstructed perspiration.

The classification of remedies among the Arabs is remarkably simple, the two grand divisions are refrigerants and heating medicines: they quote some ancient Arabian, who says,

Shrub Dim	Wine produces blood.
El Ham el Ham	Meat produces flesh.
Khubs Adem	Bread produces bone.
U el bakee makan	But all other things produce no good.

FOOTNOTES:

[147]See the Author’s observations, in a letter to Mr. Willis, in Gentleman’s Magazine, February 1805.

[148]See [page 105.]

[149]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.

[150]There died, during the whole of the above periods, in the city of Marocco, 50,000; in Fas, 65,000; in Mogodor, 4,500; and in Saffy, 5,000; in all 124,500 souls!

[151]Des gens parvenues, as the French express it; or upstarts.

[152]The good, or benediction.

[153]At this time I received from Marocco a caravan of many camel loads of beeswax, 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.

[154]M’drob is an idiom in the Arabic language somewhat difficult to render into English; it is well known that the Mohammedans 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 Mooselmin who did not affirm that he had at some time of his life seen these Genii, and they often appear, they say, in rivers.

[155]Late British Consul in Egypt.

[156]A sanctuary a mile south-east of the town of Mogodor, from whence the town receives its name.

[157]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.

[158]In Arabic, el murd el kabeer, or el murd En’sâh.

[159]See [page 138.]

[160]I mention this, from its being the popular, and generally received opinion of the natives only; the case of my servant would, indeed, seem to favour such an opinion, but his cure was probably owing to other causes.

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CHAPTER IX.

Some Observations on the Mohammedan Religion.

I shall not attempt to give a philosophical dissertation on the tenets of the religion of Mohammed, a subject that has been often ably discussed by various authors; but a few desultory observations may, perhaps, be not improper in this place.

Many writers have endeavoured to vilify the Mohammedan religion, by exposing the dark side of it, and their representations have been transmitted to posterity by enthusiasts who, probably, have been anxious to acquire ecclesiastical fame; but we shall, on a minute examination of the doctrines contained in the Koran, find that it approaches nearer to the Christian religion, in its moral precepts, than any other with which we are acquainted. Indeed, were there as many absurdities in this religion as some persons have attributed to it, it is probable that it would not have extended itself over so great a portion of the habitable globe; for we find it embraced, with little exception, from the shores of West Barbary, to the most eastern part of Bengal, an extent of upwards of 8000 miles; and from the Mediterranean to Zanguebar and Mosambique, with the exception of some nations of Pagans; neither is there any language spoken and understood by so great a proportion of the population of the world as that in which it is promulgated.

Koran, chap. vii.—“Forgive easily: command nothing but what is just: dispute not with the ignorant”

Koran, chap. xi.—“O earth, swallow up thy waters: O heaven, withhold thy rain; immediately the waters subsided, the ark rested on Mount Al Judi, and these words were heard: Wo to the wicked nation!”

Chap. xiii.—“They who do good for evil shall obtain paradise for their reward.”

From these extracts we see that the Mohammedans have some of the same moral precepts laid down for their guidance which are inculcated by the Gospel of Christ. They believe in the flood; they teach forgiveness of injuries, justice, and rendering good for evil. The nations which followed paganism were taught by Mohammed the unity of God. He exhorted them to believe with the heart, that there is only one God, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, and that he is spiritual. That the angels are subtle, pure bodies, formed of light; neither eating, drinking, or sleeping; not of different sexes; having no carnal desires, nor degrees of relationship, and are of various forms.

Mohammed maintained that Jesus Christ was a prophet, and that those who believed it not were infidels. He says, the sacred books are 104, of which the Almighty gave

To Adam	10
To Seth	50
To Idris, or Enoch	30
To Abraham	10
To Moses	1	,which is the Law
To David	1
To Jesus	1	, which is the Gospel
To Mohammed	1	, the Koran;

and he asserts, that whoever rejects, or calls in question the divine inspiration of any of the foregoing books, is an infidel. He says also, that he who can lay his hand on his heart and say, “I fear not the resurrection, nor am I in any concern about hell, and care not for heaven,” is an incorrigible infidel.

Religion and the State are considered as twins, inseparable; if one die, the other cannot survive.

The most refined and intelligent Mohammedans are not of opinion, that God is the author of all good and evil; but maintain that every man who follows the direct or good way, has the protecting eye of God upon him, and that God is with him; but that, if he withdraw his influence from any one, then evil or misfortune ensues; not actively from God, but passively from the withdrawing of that protecting influence; that this is an act of the Almighty, which cannot be easily comprehended by our weak reason: and that it is not willed by him with approbation, but necessarily. The Mohammedan thinks himself unworthy to prostrate himself before God, until he be clean and undefiled: this opinion makes ablutions so necessary; of which there are three kinds: the first is El gasul (the g pronounced guttural), which is an immersion of the whole body, and is performed by the affluent, or those in easy circumstances; the second is El woden, which is a washing of the hands, fingers, and arms, up to the elbows, the feet, face, and head, the sexual parts, the mouth and nostrils, the toes, separately and singly; and this should be repeated three times: the third mode of purification is practised only in the Desert, where the difference is the substitution of sand for water, as the latter can seldom be procured there.

Charity is considered a cardinal virtue, and an indispensible duty: those, however, who possess not five camels, or thirty sheep, and 200 pieces of silver, are not considered as obligated to give alms; for it is held, that the alms-giver should not injure himself. It is expected that a person of good property ought to give a muzuna[161] in a mitkal, which is equivalent to 6d. in the pound, to the poor, out of his annual profits, which being calculated at the end of the sacred month of Ramadan, the people have ten days to prepare their donations, when the feast of L’ashora commences, and the poor go about to the inhabitants to collect their respective donations, which they call (mtâa Allah) God’s property.[162]

During the fast of the moon, or month of Ramadan (which, from their years being lunar, happens at various periods of the year), they are very rigorous; it is necessary that the fast should be begun with an intention in the heart to please God: during this month they do not eat, nor even smell food, drink, smoke, nor communicate with women, from the rising to the setting sun; but at night they eat plentifully. Even those who indulge in wine at other times, refrain from it in the sacred month of Ramadan.

Mohammed declared that the Jews, Christians, and Pagans, cannot be saved, so long as they remain in infidelity and idolatry: of which last, the Mohammedans accuse the Roman Catholics, who worship a cross, or an image, carved by the hands of man: as to the English, they seem not to have determined what denomination to give them; they are commonly called infidels, who never pray; this opinion having obtained among them because Protestants have no public chapels in the Mohammedan towns in Africa, which the Catholics have, as already mentioned. They have it on record, that the sultan of the English (Richard Cœur de Lion) received from the Sultan Solhaden or Saladine, or from Mohammed himself, the letter admitting him and his followers as Mohammedans: but that the English king being engaged in various negociations whilst in Palestine, he did not give so much attention to the letter as was expected, and that after returning to England, he still doubted whether he should embrace the Mohammedan doctrine, or remain a Christian!

It is highly probable, in that age of fanaticism, when the holy wars were undertaken, that the Sultan Saladine, apprehensive for the cause of Mohammedanism, did make overtures to Richard; for it was the custom in the days of Mohammed, and afterwards in the days of those enthusiasts, to invite all powerful princes to embrace their religion.

The 2nd, 5th, and 9th chapters of the Koran declare a believer to be one who embraces the Mohammedan faith (i.e. a belief in the divine inspiration of the Prophets, of Jesus, and of Mohammed); this and Islaemism are synonymous terms.

Koran, chap. v.—“If Jews and Christians believe, they shall be admitted into paradise.”

1. Believe, implies a belief in one God, and of the day of judgment, the two grand pillars of Islaemism.

2. Believe in Islaemism; this admits of various interpretations: Islaem is performing obedience and prostration before God! in another interpretation it implies Mohammedanism, or a belief in the divine mission of Mohammed.

The generality of religions, which have made any progress in the world, make it indispensable to believe in its own tenets: Mohammed, although he naturally gives the preference to the religion of his own forming, yet he has the liberality to acknowledge, that those who have professed other religions may be saved, after suffering a degree of chastisement or damage in the life to come, as it is termed by him.

“Whoever shall have professed any religion except Islaemism, his belief shall not be acceptable to God, and he shall receive damage in the life to come, or be not so well received, as if he had professed Islaemism, or the law of peace and obedience.”

Although the Prophet reprobated the Jews as well as the Christians, whom he accused of perverting the Scriptures, yet he took care to keep up the latitudinarian principle of his own law, called Dêne-el-Wasah (the extended doctrine) by believing the divine inspiration of both the Old and New Testament, thus giving an opportunity to the expounders of the law, to regulate themselves according to circumstances.

The Mohammedans, when disputing with Christians, which they rarely do, say, that Christians believe faith will save the soul: they also believe so; and that if their religion is the true one, they will go to Paradise; they tell us, if your’s be the true one, we both shall go there, because we believe in the divinity of Christ, but you do not believe in that of Mohammed, therefore, if faith save the soul, we have the advantage of you in being, in any case, on the safe side.[163]

The Mooselmin’s ideas of the Creator are grand and elevated. Whatever is, exists either necessarily and of itself, and is God, or has not its being from itself, and does not exist necessarily, and is of two sorts: substance and accidents: substances are of two kinds, abstract and concrete; abstract substances are, all spirits and intellectual beings: concrete being the matter and form.

Whenever God is spoken of by the Mohammedans, as having form, eyes, &c. it is meant, allegorically, to convey the idea of some particular attribute.

They deny that Christ was crucified.

Finally, the Mohammedan religion recommends toleration; and all liberal Mohammedans insist that every man ought to worship God according to the law of his forefathers. “If it pleased God,” say they, “all men would believe; why then should a worm, a wretched mortal, be so foolish as to pretend to force other men to believe? The soul believes only by the will of God: these are the true principles of Mohammedans.”

It must, however, be observed, that the principles here laid down are not always the rule of action, any more than the sublime truths inculcated by the Christian religion are altogether acted upon by its professors.

Both religions acknowledge the greatness of God, and yet bigotry is so prevalent at Old Fas, that if a Christian were there to exclaim Allah k’beer, God is great, he would be invited immediately to add to it, and Mohammed is his prophet, which, if he were inadvertently to utter before witnesses, he would be compelled to become a Mohammedan, and would be circumcised accordingly: so that Europeans should be extremely cautious, when unprotected, or not in the suite of an ambassador, what words they ever repeat after a Mohammedan, even if ignorant of the meaning thereof. I do not apprehend, however, that it is necessary to observe this caution in any part of the empire except at Old Fas, where bigotry, as before observed, predominates.

Martin Martinius, the jesuit, and Abraham Ecchellensis, professor of Oriental languages at Rome in the 17th century, tax the Koran with asserting, that God himself prays for Mohammed; this absurdity has probably originated in an incorrect translation of the Koran, published about 270 years since, which translates, “may the blessing of God be upon thee, may the prayers of God be upon thee:” the same Arabic word (Sollah) which signifies peace or blessing, when applied to a man, signifies prayer. Sollah Allah ala Seedna Mohammed, signifies, “pray to God through our master Mohammed,” not, “the prayers of God are upon Mohammed.”

It has been said by Maccarius, in his Theolog. Polemic. p. 119, that Mohammed does not acknowledge any hell. Why then does he explain the seven gates of hell, mentioned in the Koran, chap. xv.? which are an emblem of the seven deadly sins, and of their various punishments; for, according to the Arabian prophet, hell has seven gates, allegorically, and heaven has seven heavens, or degrees of happiness; the highest and chiefest of which, according to the Mohammedans, is to see God. The (Gehennume) hell of Mohammed is not an eternal punishment.

Monsieur de St. Olon, ambassador from the King of France at Marocco, says, in his description of the kingdom of Marocco, chap. ii.—“The Mohammedans maintain, that by washing their head, hands, and feet, they are purified from all sin:” but this is an error, and I may presume, from the nature of the assertion, that the Ambassador, like many others, who are sent to Mohammedan countries, knew nothing of the Arabic language, and that he was obliged to negotiate through some Jewish interpreter. The washing is merely a necessary ceremony, and is similar to our custom of going washed and clean to church; it is a purifying of the shell, or the outward man, prayers are a purifying of the kernel or inward man; as by purifying the kernel, the amendment of the heart is implied.

With regard to spirits or devils (called Jin, Sing. and Jinune (pl.); Sale translates Genii, which is the word Jin, with the vowel point thus, جنِ jinee), Philip Guadagnolo,[164] in his apology for the Christian religion, p. 291, asserts, that the Koran is full of contradictions, from what it says about devils in the chapter called the chapter of Devils; but this is really the chapter of spirits (Genii, spirits), for of these Mohammedans admit three kinds, besides the departed souls of men, called Rôh Benadam, viz.

1. Lucifer, the chief of the devils, is called Shetan.

2. All rebellious or deformed spirits belonging to Shetan are called Iblis.

The 3d kind are called Genii, in Arabic Jinune; they are both good and bad, offensive and inoffensive, and assume various forms. The good are called Melik.

Of sins, the Mooselmin affirm envy to have been the first committed in heaven and on earth; they say Iblis envied Adam; when God ordered all Angels to honour him, he tacitly condemned God; and expostulated with him on ordering him, who was made of fire, to adore or honour the first man, who was made from earth. ‘Now,’ said the wretch Iblis, ‘it is not just that the superior being should honour the inferior;’ and he was cast down from heaven for his disobedience: thus envy was the first sin in heaven.

Kabel and Habel (the Arabic names of Cain and Abel) offered sacrifice to God; the offerings of Habel met with a more favourable reception; Kabel envied him and killed him; so envy first occasioned infidelity in heaven, and murder on earth.

The heighth of the celestial happiness is to see God; all those elegant descriptions of beautiful virgins, rivers flowing with honey, gardens of delicious fruits, &c. which are said by some to compose the happiness of the Mohammedan paradise, are allegorical descriptions.

Chap. xl.—“Whoever shall believe and do good works, whether man or woman, shall enter paradise.”

Thus we see that the fate of the Mohammedan women is not altogether so deplorable as some Christians have made it.

Peter Cevaller, in his Zelus Christi contra Saracenos, p. 137, speaking of Mohammed, says—“This madman places Haman in the time of Pharoah, which is such a proof of his ignorance, as ought to put him and all his beastly followers to an eternal silence.”

Peter Cevaller, it appears, was not apprised that Pharaoh was a general name for all the kings of the Pharoah dynasty, which continued to reign in Egypt many centuries. The Mohammedans, moreover, have many traditions about a man of the name of Haman, who was a general of one of the Pharaohs.

Bartholomew of Edessa, in p. 442 of the Varia Sacra, published by Stephen le Moine, reproaches Mohammed with saying, that the blessed Virgin became pregnant by eating dates:

Koran, chap. xix.—“Remember what is written of Mary. We sent to her our spirit, (or angel,) in the shape of a man; she was frightened, but the angel said to her, O Mary! I am the messenger of your Lord, and your God, who will give you an active and prudent son. She answered, How shall I have a son without knowing any man? The angel replied, God has said it, the thing shall happen; it is easy to your Lord, and your son himself shall be a proof of the almighty power of God. Then she conceived, and retired for some time into a solitary place, near a date-tree, and her labour-pains began forthwith; but the angel said, Do not afflict thyself; shake the date-tree, and gather the dates; eat them, drink water, and wash your eyes.” Now this passage, which is the one alluded to, does not say that the pregnancy proceeded from the eating of the dates, although the dates eased the pains of pregnancy. Hence, probably, that superstitious African tradition, that when the Virgin Mary was in pain, she exclaimed, O that I had some dates! and immediately the exclamation, or letter O, was marked on the stone of the fruit.[165]

Dog and hog are synonymous terms of contempt or degradation among the Mohammedans: they are the two unclean animals; and if either of them drink out of a cup, it must be washed. They will not sit down where a dog has been, nor will they wear the skin of the animal, even if made into leather. Some men of rank, however, keep greyhounds, and other dogs for hunting; but seldom let them go into those apartments of their houses, where the women are, for they say, no angel or benediction comes to any place where a dog is.

In the xivth chap. of the Koran Mohammed makes Abraham beg of God to protect Mecca, and to make it a place of peace or safety (aman المعان in the original) to all the world. The learned Robert of Retz, who translated the Koran in the 16th century, has rendered this word, Aman or Hammon, and hence the prophet has absolutely been accused of placing Mecca in the country of the Hammonites, and consequently abused for his geographical ignorance, as if any man of common understanding could so far mistake the place of his birth, a place he had lived in so long, had conquered, and from whence he had made so many eruptions against his neighbours. The word Aman in the original is a consecrated place, or place of faith, of safety, of refuge, of protection. Birds, fish, or animals, are not allowed to be killed in such places, neither is blood to be spilt therein.

Mohammed has also been accused of contradicting himself, in saying, sometimes, that he could read, and at others, that he could not; and the following passage of the Koran (ch. xlvii.) is thence produced as evidence that he could read: God is introduced as saying to Mohammed—“God knows what you do, and what you read.”[166] But the whole is a mistake, both of the version and of the annotator, for in the original Arabic, God does not speak to Mohammed, but the latter speaks to other men, and says, “God knows what ye do, and what ye meditate,” (not read).

With regard to marriage, the Koran (chap. iv.) allows four wives: “Receive in marriage such women as you like, two, three, or four wives, at the most. If you think you cannot maintain them equally, marry only one.” (This subject has been elucidated in a preceding chapter, it is therefore unnecessary to say any thing further upon it here).

It has been said by Euthymius Zygabenus, and an anonymous author, who wrote Mohammed’s life, in Sylburgh’s Saracen. p. 60, that Mohammed, in his Koran, placed Moses amongst the damned; but whoever has the least knowledge of Arabic, must know, by consulting the Koran, that Moses is every where mentioned with great respect, and the Mohammedans call him Seedna, i.e. our Lord or Master.

From the foregoing observations, it will be perceived that the principles of the Mohammedan religion are neither so pernicious nor so absurd as many have imagined. They have sometimes been vilified from error, or for the purpose of exalting the Christian doctrine; but that doctrine is too pure and celestial to need any such aids.

FOOTNOTES:

[161]Forty muzuna make one mitkal.

[162]In the evening of the feast of L’ashora, they have a masquerade, during which the masquers proceed through the different streets, and go to the houses, to collect charity: their masks are made in a rude way, but the characters are well represented throughout. Amongst them we generally find an English sailor, a French soldier, a cooper, a lawyer, an apothecary, and a sheik or alkaid, who determines all disputes, and whose decree is absolute.

[163]This is similar to the Catholic lady, who, worshipping the picture of Satan alternately with that of the Virgin, declared that her object was to secure a friend on both sides.

[164]He translated the Bible into Arabic in 1671.

[165]All date-stones have a circular mark on them, like the letter O.

[166]Robert de Retz’s translation.

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CHAPTER X.

Languages of Africa — Various Dialects of the Arabic Language — Difference between the Berebber and Shelluh Languages — Specimen of the Mandinga — Comparison of the Shelluh Language with that of the Canary Islands, and Similitude of Customs.

Yareb, the son of Kohtan,[167] is said to have been the first who spoke Arabic, and the Mohammedans contend that it is the most eloquent language spoken in any part of the globe, and that it is the one which will be used at the day of judgment. To write a long dissertation on this copious and energetic language, would be only to repeat what many learned men have said before; a few observations, however, may not be superfluous to the generality of readers. The Arabic language is spoken by a greater proportion of the inhabitants of the known world than any other: a person having a practical knowledge of it, may travel from the shores of the Mediterranean sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and notwithstanding that in such a journey he must pass through many kingdoms and empires of blacks, speaking distinct languages, yet he would find men in all those countries versed in Mohammedan learning, and therefore acquainted with the Arabic; again, he might cross the widest part of the African continent from west to east, and would every where meet with persons acquainted with it, more particularly if he should follow the course of the great river called the Nile of the Negroes, on the banks of which, from Jinnie and Timbuctoo, to the confines of Lower Egypt, are innumerable cities and towns of Arabs and Moors, all speaking the Arabic. Again, were a traveller to proceed from Marocco to the farthest shore of Asia, opposite the islands of Japan, he would find the Arabic generally spoken or understood wherever he came. In Turkey, in Syria, in Arabia, in Persia, and in India, it is understood by all men of education; and any one possessing a knowledge of the Korannick Arabic, might, in a very short time, make himself master of the Hindostannee, and of every other dialect of the former.

The letters of this language are formed in four distinct ways, according to their situation at the beginning, middle, or end of words, as well as when standing alone; the greatest difficulty, however, to be overcome, is the acquiring a just pronunciation, (without which no living language can be essentially useful), and to attain which, the learner should be able to express the difference of power and sound between what may be denominated the synonymous letters, such as ط and ث with ت; ع with ا; ص with س; ض and ظ with د; ه with ح; ڧ and ك with خ; غ with ر.

Besides these, there are other letters, whose power is extremely difficult to be acquired by an European, because no language in Europe possesses sounds similar to the Arabic letters ع غ خ, nor has any language, except, perhaps, the English, a letter with the power of the Arabian ث. Those who travel into Asia or Africa scarcely ever become sufficiently masters of the Arabic to speak it fluently, which radical defect proceeds altogether from their not learning, while studying it, the peculiar distinction of the synonymous letters. No European, perhaps, ever knew more of the theory of this language than the late Sir William Jones, but still he could not converse with an Arabian, a circumstance of which he was not conscious until he went to India. This great man, however, had he been told that his knowledge of this popular eastern language was so far deficient, that he was ignorant of the separate powers of its synonymous letters, and consequently inadequate to converse intelligibly with a native Arab, he would certainly have considered it an aspersion, and have disputed altogether that such was the fact. Considering how much we are indebted to the Arabians for the preservation of many of the works of the ancients, which would otherwise have never, perhaps, been known to us, it is really surprising that their language should be so little known in Europe. It is certainly very difficult and abstruse (to learners particularly), but this difficulty is rendered insurmountable by the European professors knowing it only as a dead language, and teaching it without due attention to the pronunciation of the before mentioned synonymous letters, a defect which is not likely to be remedied, and which will always subject the speaker to incessant errors.

To shew the Arabic student the difference between the Oriental and Occidental order of the letters of the alphabet, I shall here give them opposite each other.

Oriental Order of the Alphabet.				Occidental Order of the Alphabet.
1	Alif	ا	—	1	Alif	ا
2	ba	ب	—	2	ba	ب
3	ta	ت	—	3	ta	ت
4	thsa	ث	—	4	tha	ث
5	jim	ج	—	5	jim	ج
6	hha	ح	—	6	hha	ح
7	kha	خ	—	7	kha	خ
8	dal	د	—	8	dal	د
9	dsal	ذ	—	9	dth’al	ذ
10	ra	ر	—	10	ra	ر
11	za	ز	—	11	zain	ز
12	sin	س	—	12	ta	ط
13	shin	ش	—	13	da	ظ
14	sad	ص	—	14	kef	ك
15	dad	ض	—	15	lam	ل
16	ta	ط	—	16	mim	م
17	da	ظ	—	17	nune	ن
18	ain	ع	—	18	sad	ص
19	gain	غ	—	19	dad	ض
20	fa	ف	—	20	ain	ع
21	kaf	ق	—	21	r’gain	غ
22	kef	ك	—	22	fa	ف
23	lem	ل	—	23	kaf	ق
24	mim	م	—	24	sin	س
25	nun	ن	—	25	shin	ش
26	waw	و	—	26	hha	ه
27	he	ه	—	27	wow	و
28	ya	ي	—	28	ia	ي
29	lam-alif	لا	—	29	lam-alif	لا

Besides this difference of the arrangement of the two alphabets, the student will observe that there is also a difference in the punctuation of two of the letters: thus—

Oriental.		Occidental.
fa	ف	fa	ڢ
kaf	ق	kaf	ڧ

Among the Western Arabs, the ancient Arabic figures are used, viz. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: they often write 100 thus, 1 . .-200, 2 . .

To explain the force of the synonymous letters on paper would be impossible; the reader, however, may form some idea of the indispensable necessity of knowing the distinction by the few words here selected, which to one unaccustomed to hear the Arabic language spoken, would appear similar and undistinguishable.

ENGLISH.	ARABIC.	ARABIC.
	Rendered as near to European pronunciation as the English Alphabet will admit.
A horse	Aoud	عودْ
Wood	Awad	اعوادْ
To repeat	Aoud	عَودْ
Fish	Hout	حُوتْ
A gun	Mokhalla	امُكْحلَ
A foolish woman	Mokeela	مُخيلهَ
A frying-pan	Makeela	مَڧلُ
A lion	Sebah	اَّلسبعْ
Morning	Sebah	اَّلصبحْ
Seventh	Sebah	اَّلسبعْ
Hatred	Hassed	احسَدْ
Harvest	Hassed	احصدْ
Learning	Alem, or El Alem	العالمْ or عالمْ
A flag	El Alem	الاعلامْ
Granulated paste	Kuscasoe	كسكْسُ
The dish it is made in	Kuscas	كسكاسْ
Heart	Kul’b	ڧلبْ
Dog	Kil’b	كلبْ
Mould	Kal’b	ڧالبْ
Captain	Rice	الرُايسُ
Feathers	Rish	الرُيش
Mud	Ris	الغيسْ
Smell	Shim	الشُمْ
Poison	Sim	ألسمْ[168]
Absent	R’gaib	الغايبْ
Butter milk	Raib	الرَّايبْ
White	Bëad	اْبيضْ
A black	El Abd	العبدْ
Eggs	Baid	البَيضْ
Afar-off	Baid	ابْعيدْ
A pig	Helloof	حلوڢْ
An oath	Hellef	احلڢْ
Feed for horses	Alf	العّلڢ
A thousand	Alf	الڢْ

It is difficult for any one who has not accurately studied the Arabic language, to imagine the many errors which an European commits in speaking it, when self-taught, or even when taught in Europe. Soon after my arrival in Africa, when I had not attained the age of eighteen, I happened one day to be in the house of an European gentleman who had then been in the country twenty years; an Arab of the province of Tedla came in, when the former (at all times desirous of exhibiting his knowledge of their language) addressed him, and after making a long speech, the Arab very coolly replied, “I entreat thee to speak Arabic, that I may understand thee (tkillem Eaudie b’lorbea besh en fhemik).” This was interpreted to me by a friend, who was present, and it made such a strong impression on my mind, that I resolved to apply myself assiduously to discover the reason why a person who spoke the language tolerably quick, should be altogether so little understood, and I was some time afterwards, by making various observations and trials, convinced that the deficiency originated in the inaccuracy of the application of the synonymous letters.

The ain ع and the غ r’gain cannot be accurately pronounced by Europeans, who have not studied the language grammatically when young, and under a native; I have, however, heard an Irishman,[169] who did not understand it grammatically, but had acquired it by ear, pronounce the latter equally as correct as any Arabian; but this was a rare instance. He was in England whilst Elfie Bey was here, who, as I was afterwards informed, had declared, that he was the only European whose Arabic he could easily understand. The aspirated h, and the hard s, in the word for morning (sebah), are so much like their synonymes, that few Europeans can discern the difference; the one is consequently often mistaken for the other; and I have known a beautiful sentence absolutely perverted through an inaccuracy of this kind. In the words rendered Hatred and Harvest, the two synonymes of س and ص or s hard and s soft, are indiscriminately used by Europeans in their Arabic conversations, a circumstance sufficient to do away the force and meaning of any sentence or discourse.

The poetry as well as prose of the Arabians is well known, and has been so often discussed by learned men, that it would be irrelevant here to expatiate on the subject; but as the following description of the noblest passion of the human breast cannot but be interesting to the generality of readers, and without any exception to the fair sex, I will transcribe it.

“Love (العشك) beginneth in contemplation, passeth to meditation; hence proceeds desire; then the spark bursts forth into a flame, the head swims, the body wastes, and the soul turns giddy. If we look on the bright side of love, we must acknowledge that it has at least one advantage; it annihilates pride and immoderate self-love: true love, whose aim is the happiness and equality of the beloved object, being incompatible with those feelings.

“Lust is so different from true love (العشك), and so far from a perfection, that it is always a species of punishment sent by God, because man has abandoned the path of his pure love.”

In their epistolary writing, the Arabs have generally a regular and particular style, beginning and ending all their letters with the name of God, symbolically, because God is the beginning and end of all things. The following short specimen will illustrate this:

Translation of a letter written in the Korannick Arabic by Seedy Soliman ben Mohammed ben Ismael, Sultan of Marocco, to his Bashaw —— of Suse, &c. &c.

“Praise be to the only God! for there is neither power, nor strength, without the great and eternal God.”

[L.S. containing the Emperor’s name and titles, as Soliman ben Mohammed ben Abdallah, &c. &c.]

“Our servant, Alkaid Abdelmelk ben Behie Mulud, God assist, and peace be with thee, and the mercy and grace of God be upon thee!

“We command thee forthwith to procure and send to our exalted presence every Englishman that has been wrecked on the coast of Wedinoon, and to forward them hither without delay, and diligently to succour and attend to them, and may the eye of God be upon thee!”

26th of the lunar month Saffer, year of the Hejira 1281.
(May 1806.)[170]

The accuracy of punctuation in the Arabic language is a matter that ought to be strictly attended to; thus they maintain writing to be the first qualification of a scholar, and that, from a want of a due knowledge of punctuation, the Christians have misunderstood the word of God, which says, “I have begotten thee, and thou art my son.” This passage, they say, first stood as follows, (which if the Scriptures had been originally written in Arabic would have had some plausibility.)

“I have adopted thee, and thou art my prophet.” The difference of punctuation in one word makes all this difference in signification, for—

ٮٮ punctuated thus بن signifies son, and

ٮٮ punctuated thus, نب signifies prophet.

It has been already observed, that the Mohammedans believe in Jesus Christ, and that he was a prophet sent from God; but they acknowledge no equal with God. The doctrine of the Trinity is incomprehensible to them, hence they will not admit of the punctuation بن but allow that of نب.

The foregoing observations will serve to prove the insufficiency of a knowledge of this language, as professed or studied in Great Britain when unaccompanied with a practical knowledge. These observations may apply equally to the Persian language.[171]

If the present ardour for discovery in Africa be persevered in, the learned world may expect, in the course of a few years, to receive histories and other works of Greek and Roman authors, which were translated into the Arabic language, when Arabian literature was in its zenith, and have ever since been confined to some private libraries in the cities of the interior of Africa, and in Arabia. Bonaparte, aware of the political importance of a practical knowledge of this language, has of late given unremitting attention to the subject, and if we may believe the mutilated accounts which we receive occasionally from France, he is likely to obtain from Africa in a short period relics of ancient learning of considerable value, which have escaped the wreck of nations.

Having said thus much with regard to the Arabic of the western Arabs, which, with little variation, is spoken throughout all the finest districts of North Africa, I shall proceed to say a few words respecting the other languages spoken north of Sahara: these are the Berebber and its dialects, viz. the Zayan and Girwan, and Ait Imure; the Shelluh of Suse and South Atlas, all which, though latterly supposed by some learned men to be the same, differ in many respects; any one possessing a knowledge of the Berebber language might, with little difficulty, make himself understood by the Zayan of Atlas, the Girwan, or the Ait Imure; but the Shelluh is a different language, and each so different from the Arabic, that there is not the smallest resemblance, as the following specimen will demonstrate:

BEREBBER.	SHELLUH.	ARABIC.	ENGLISH.
Tumtoot	Tayelt	Ishira	A girl
Ajurode	Ayel	Ishire	A boy
Askan	Tarousa	Hajar	A thing
Aram	Algrom	Jimmel	Camel
Tamtute	Tamraut	Murrah	A woman
Ishiar	Issemg’h	L’abd	A slave
Aouli	Izimer	Kibsh	A sheep
Taddert	Tikimie	Dar	House
Ikshuden	Asroen	Lawad	Wood
Eekeel	Akfai	Hellib	Milk
Tifihie	Uksume	El Ham	Meat
Buelkiel	Amuran	Helloof	A hog
Abreede	Agares	Trek	A road
Bishee	Fikihie	Ara	Give me
Adude	Asht	Agi	Come
Alkam	Aftooh	Cire	Go
Kaym	Gäuze	Jils	Sit down
Imile	Imeek	Serire	Little

SPECIMEN OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ARABIC AND SHELLUH LANGUAGES.

SHELLUH.	ARABIC	ENGLISH.
Is sin Tamazirkt	Wash katarf Shelluh	Do you understand Shelluh?
Uree sin	Man arf huh	I do not understand it
Matshrult	Kif enta	How are you?
Is tekeete Marokshe	Wash gite min Marockshe	Are you come from Marocco?
Egan ras	Miliah	Good
Maigan	Ala’sh	Wherefore?
Misimmink	As’mek	What is your name?
Mensh kat dirk	Shall andik	How much have you got?
Tasardunt	Borella	A mule
Romi	Romi	An European
Takannarit	Nasarani	A Christian
Romi	Kaffer	An infidel
Misem Bebans	Ashkune mula	Who is the owner?
Is’tkit Tegriwelt	Wash jite min Tegriwelt	Are you come from Cape Ossem?
Auweete Imkelli	Jib Liftor	Bring the dinner
Efoulkie	Meziana	Handsome
Ayeese	El aoud	A horse
Tikelline	El Baid	Eggs
Amuran	Helloof	Hog
Tayuh	Tatta	Camelion
Tasamumiat	Adda	Green lizard
Tandaraman	Ertella b’hairie	Venemous spider
Tenawine	Sfune	Ships

Marmol says, the Shelluhs and Berebbers write and speak one language, called Killem Abimalick,[172] the name of the person who was accounted the inventor of Arabic letters; but the foregoing specimen, the accuracy of which may be depended on, clearly proves this assertion to be erroneous, as well as that of many moderns who have formed their opinion, in all probability, on the above authority. Now, although the Shelluh and Berebber languages are so totally dissimilar, that there is not one word in the foregoing vocabulary which resembles its corresponding word in the other language, yet, from the prejudice which Marmol has established, it will still be difficult, perhaps, to persuade the learned that such an author could be mistaken on such a subject. My account therefore must remain for a future age to determine upon, when the languages of Africa shall be better known than they are at present; for it is not a few travellers occasionally sent out on a limited plan that can ascertain facts, the attainment of which requires a long residence, and familiar intercourse with the natives. Marmol has also misled the world in saying that they write a different language; the fact is, that when they write any thing of consequence, it is in the Arabic, but any trifling subject is written in the Berebber words, though in the Arabic character. If they had any peculiar character in the time of Marmol, they have none now; for I have conversed with hundreds of them, as well as with the Shelluhs, and have had them staying at my house for a considerable time together, but never could learn from any that a character different from the Arabic had ever been in use among them.

In addition to these languages, there is another spoken at the Oasis of Ammon, or Siwah, called in Arabic (الواح الغاربي) El Wah El Garbie, which appears to be a mixture of Berebber and Shelluh, as will appear from the list of Siwahan words given by Mr. Horneman,[173] in his Journal, page 19, part of which I have here transcribed, to shew the similitude between those two languages, whereby it will appear that the language of Siwah and that of the Shelluhs of South Atlas are one and the same language.

ENGLISH.	SIWAHAN, as given by Mr. Horneman, p. 19.	SHELLUH.
Sun	Itfuckt	Atfuct
Head	Achfé	Akfie
Camel	Lgum	Arume
Sheep	Jelibb	Jelibb
Cow	Tfunest	Tafunest
Mountain	Iddrarn	Iddra[174]
Have you a horse?	Goreck Ackmar	Is derk Achmar?[175]
Milk	Achi	Akfie
Bread	Tagor	Tagora[176]
Dates	Tena	Tenie (sing.)
		Tena (plural.)

South of the Desert we find other languages spoken by the blacks; and are told by Arabs who have frequently performed the journey from Jinnie to Cairo, and the Red Sea, that thirty-three different Negroe languages are met with in the course of that route, but that the Arabic is spoken by the intelligent part of the people, and the Mohammedan religion is known and followed by many; their writings are uniformly in Arabic.

It may not be improper in this place, seeing the many errors and mutilated translations which appear from time to time of Arabic, Turkish, and Persian papers, to give a list of the Mohammedan moons or lunar months, used by all those nations, which begin with the first appearance of the new moon, that is, the day following, or sometimes two days after the change, and continue till they see the next new moon; these have been mutilated to such a degree in all our English translations, that I shall give them, in the original Arabic character, and as they ought to be spelt and pronounced in the English character, as a clue whereby to calculate the correspondence between our year and theirs. They divide the year into 12 months, which contain 29 or 30 days, according as they see the new moon; the first day of the month Muharam is termed راس العام Ras Elame, i.e. the beginning of the year.

As we are more used to the Asiatic mode of punctuation, that will be observed in these words.

Muharam	مُحَارَمْ
Asaffer	اَصاَفرْ
Arabia Elule	الَّرابيع الَّوله
Arabea Atthenie	الَّرابيع الَّثاني
Jumad Elule	جوماد الول
Jumad Athenie	جوماد الَّثاني
Rajeb	راجب
Shaban	شعبان
Ramadan	رامدان
Shual	شوال
Du’elkada	دُلكعدهَ
Du Elhagah	دُلحاجَهْ

The first of Muharram, year of the Hejira 1221, answers to the 19th March of the Christian æra, 1806.

Among the various languages spoken south of the Desert, or Sahara, we have already observed that there are thirty-three different ones between the Western Ocean and the Red Sea, following the shores of the Nile El Abide, or Niger: among all these nations and empires, a man practically acquainted with the Arabic may always make himself understood, and indeed it is the language most requisite to be known for every traveller in these extensive regions.

The Mandinga is spoken from the banks of the Senegal, where that river takes a northerly course from the Jibel Kumera to the kingdom of Bambarra; the Wangareen tongue is a different one; and the Houssonians speak a language differing again from that.

Specimen of the difference between the Arabic and Mandinga language; the words of the latter extracted from the vocabularies of Seedi Mohammed ben Amer Soudani.

ENGLISH.	MANDINGA	ARABIC.
One	Kalen	Wahud
Two	Fula	Thanine
Three	Seba	Thalata
Four	Nani	Arba
Five	Lulu	Kumsa
Six	Uruh	Setta
Seven	Urn’klu	Sebba
Eight	Säae	Timinia
Nine	Kanuntée	Taseud
Ten	Dan	Ashra
Eleven	Dan kalen	Ahud ash
Twelve	Dan fula	Atenashe
Thirteen	Dan seba	Teltashe
Nineteen	Dan kanartée	Tasatash
Twenty	Mulu	Ashreen
Thirty	Mulu nintau	Thalateen
Forty	Mulu fula	Arbä’in
Fifty	Mulu fula neentan	Kumseen
Sixty	Mulu sebaa	Setteen
Seventy	Mulu sebaa nintan	Sebä’in
Eighty	Mulu nani	T’ammana’een
Ninety	Mulu nani neentaan	Tasa’een
One hundred	Kemi	Mia
One thousand	Uli	Elf
This	Neen	Hadda
That	Waleem	Hadduk
Great	Bawa	Kabeer
Little	Nadeen	Sereer
Handsome	Nimawa	Zin
Ugly	Nuta	Uksheen (k guttural)
White	Kie	Bead
Black	Feen	Abeed, or khal
Red	Williamma	Hummer
How do you do?	Nimbana mountania	Kif-enta
Well	Kantée	Ala khere
Not well	Moon kanti	Murrede
What do you want	Ala feeta matume	Ash-bright
Sit down	Siduma	Jils
Get up	Ounilee	Node
Sour	Akkumula	Hamd
Sweet	Timiata	Helluh
True	Aituliala	Hack
False	Funiala	Kadube
Good	Abatee	Miliah
Bad	Minbatee	Kubiah
A witch	Bua	Sahar
A lion	Jatta	Sebaâ
An elephant	Samma	El fele
A hyæna	Salua	Dubbah
A wild boar	Siwa	El kunjer
A water horse	Mali	Aoud d’Elma
A horse	Suhuwa	Aoud
A camel	Kumaniun	Jimmel
A dog	Wallee	Killeb
Hel el Killeb or the dog-faced race	Hel Wallee	Hel El Killeb
A gazel	Tankeen	Gazel (g guttural)
A cat	Niankune	El mish
A goat	Baâ	El mâize
A sheep	Kurenale	Kibsh
A bull	Nisakia	Toôr
A serpent	Saâ	Hensh
A camelion	Mineer	Tatta
An ape	Ku’nee	Dzatute
A fowl or chicken	Susee	Djez
A duck	Beruee	El Weese
A fish	Hihu	El hout
Butter	Tulu	Zibda
Milk	Nunn	El hellib
Bread	Mengu	El khubs (k guttural)
Corn	Nieu	Zra
Wine	Tangee	Kummer (k guttural)
Honey	Alee	Asel
Sugar	Tobabualee	Sukar
Salt	Kuee	Mil’h
Ambergris	Anber	Anber
Brass	Tass	Tass
Silver	Kudee	Nukra
Gold-dust	Teber	Tiber
Pewter	Tass ki	Kusdeer
A bow	Kula	El kos
An arrow	Binia	Zerag
A knife	Muru	Jenui
A spoon	Kulia	Mogerfa
A bed	El arun	El ferrashe
A lamp	El kundeel	El kundeel
A house	Su	Ed dar
A room	Bune	El beet
A light-hole or window	Jinnee	Reehâha
A door	Daa	Beb
A town	Kinda	Midina
Smoke	Sezee	Tkan (k guttural)
Heat	Kandia	Skanna (k guttural)
Cold	Nini	Berd
Sea	Bedu baba	Bahar
River	Bedu	Wed
A rock	Berri	Jerf
Sand	Kinnikanni	Rummel
The earth	Binku	Dunia
Mountain	Kuanku	Jibbel
Island	Juchüi	Dzeera
Rain	Sanjukalaeen	Shta
God	Allah	Allah
Father	Fa	Ba
Mother	Ba	Ma
Hell	Jahennum	Jehennume
A man	Kia	Rajil
A woman	Musa	Murrah
A sister	Bum musa	Kat (k guttural)
A brother	Bum kia	Ka
The devil	Buhau	Iblis
A white man	Tebabu	Rajil biad
A singer	Jalikea	Runai (r guttural)
A singing woman	Jalimusa	Runaiah (r guttural)
A slave	June	Abeed
A servant	Bettela	Mutalem

Having now given some account of the languages of Africa, we shall proceed to animadvert on the similitude of language and customs between the Shelluhs of Atlas and the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. The words between inverted commas are quotations from Glasse’s History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands.

“The inhabitants of Lancerotta and Fuertaventura are social and cheerful;” like the Shelluhs of Atlas; “they are fond of singing and dancing; their music is vocal, accompanied with a clapping of hands, and beating with their feet:” the Shelluhs resemble them in all these respects; “Their houses are built of stone, without cement; the entrance is narrow, so that but one person can enter at a time.”

The houses of the Shelluhs are sometimes built without cement, but always with stone; the doors and entrances are low and small, so that one person only can enter.

“In their temples they offered to their God milk and butter.”

Among the Shelluhs milk and butter are given as presents to princes and great men: the milk being an emblem of good will and candour.

“When they were sick (which seldom happened) they cured themselves with the herbs which grew in the country; and when they had acute pains, they scarified the part affected with sharp stones, and burned it with fire, and then anointed it with goat’s butter. Earthen vessels of this goat’s butter were found interred in the ground, having been put there by the women who were the makers, and took that method of preparing it for medicine.”

The custom of the Shelluhs on similar occasions is exactly similar; the butter which they use is old, and is buried under ground many years in (bukul) earthen pots, and is called budra: it is a general medicine, and is said to possess a remarkably penetrating quality.

“They grind their barley in a hand-mill, made of two stones, being similar to those used in some remote parts of Europe.”

In Suse, among the Shelluhs, they grind their corn in the same way, and barley is the principle food.

“Their breeches are short, leaving the knees bare;” so are those worn by the Shelluhs.

“Their common food was barley meal roasted and mixed with goats milk and butter, and this dish they called Asamotan.”

This is the common food of the Shelluhs of Atlas, and they call it by a similar name, Azamitta.

The opinion of the author of the History and Conquest of the Canary Islands, is, that the inhabitants came originally from Mauritania, and this he founds on the resemblance of names of places in Africa and in the islands: for, says he, “Telde,[177] which is the name of the oldest habitation in Canaria, Orotaba, and Tegesta, are all names which we find given to places in Mauritania and in Mount Atlas. It is to be supposed that Canaria, Fuertaventura, and Lancerotta, were peopled by the Alarbes,[178] who are the nation most esteemed in Barbary; for the natives of those islands named milk Aho, and barley Temecin, which are the names that are given to those things in the language of the Alarbes of Barbary.” He adds, that

“Among the books of a library that was in the cathedral of St. Anna in Canaria, there was found one so disfigured, that it wanted both the beginning and the end: it treated of the Romans, and gave an account, that when Africa was a Roman province, the natives of Mauritania rebelled and killed their presidents and governors, upon which the senate, resolving to punish and make a severe example of the rebels, sent a powerful army into Mauritania, which vanquished and reduced them again to obedience. Soon after the ringleaders of the rebellion were put to death, and the tongues of the common people, together with those of their wives and children, were cut out, and then they were all put aboard vessels with some grain and cattle, and transported to the Canary islands.”[179]

The following vocabulary will shew the similarity of language between the natives of Canaria and the Shelluhs (inhabitants of the Atlas mountains south of Marocco).

LANCEROTTA AND FUERTAVENTURA DIALECT.	SHELLUH OR LYBIAN TONGUE.	ENGLISH.
Temasin	Tumzeen	Barley
Tezzezes	Tezezreat	Sticks
Taginaste	Taginast	A palm-tree
Tahuyan	Tahuyat	A blanket, covering or petticoat
Ahemon	Amen	Water
Faycag	Faquair	Priest or lawyer
Acoran	M’koorn	God
Almogaren	Talmogaren	Temples
Tamoyanteen	Tigameen	Houses
Tawacen	Tamouren	Hogs
Archormase	Akermuse	Green figs
Azamotan	Azamittan	Barley meal fried in oil
Tigot	Tigot	Heaven
Tigotan	Tigotan	The Heavens
Thener	Athraar	A mountain
Adeyhaman	Douwaman	A hollow valley
Ahico	Tahayk	A hayk or coarse garment
Kabehiera	Kabeera	A head man or a powerful
Ahoren	—	Barley meal roasted
Ara	—	A goat
Ana	—	A sheep
Tagarer	—	A place of justice
Benehoare, the name of the natives of Palma.
Beni Hoarie, a tribe of Arabs in Suse betweenAgadeer and Terodant.[180]

FOOTNOTES:

[167]This Kohtan is the Yoctan, son of Eber, brother to Phaleg, mentioned in Genesis. Chapter 10, verse 25.

[168]The African Jews find it very difficult in speaking, to distinguish between shim and sim, for they cannot pronounce the sh, (ش) but sound it like s (س); the very few who have studied the art of reading the language, have, however, conquered this difficulty.

[169]Mr. Hugh Cahill.

[170]When they write to any other but Mohammedans, they never salute them with the words “Peace be with thee,” but substitute—“Peace be to those who follow the path of the true God,” Salem ala min itaba el Uda.

[171]“One of the objects I had in view in coming to Europe was to instruct young Englishmen in the Persian language. I however met with so little encouragement from persons in authority, that I entirely relinquished the plan. I instructed however (as I could not refuse the recommendations that were brought to me) an amiable young man, Mr. S——n, and thanks be to God, my efforts were crowned with success! and that he, having escaped the instructions of self-taught masters, has acquired such a knowledge of the principles of that language, and so correct an idea of its idiom and pronunciation, that I have no doubt after a few years residence in India he will attain to such a degree of excellence, as has not yet been acquired by any other Englishman.” Vide Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, vol. i. p. 200.

[172]Killem Abimalick signifies the Language of Abimalick.

[173]In reading Mr. William Marsden’s observations on the language of Siwah, at the end of Horneman’s Journal, in page 190, I perceive that the short vocabulary inserted corresponds with a vocabulary of the Shelluh language, which I presented to that gentleman some years past.

[174]Plural Iddrarn.

[175]Or, Is derk ayeese?

[176]This is applied to bread when baked in a pan, or over the embers of charcoal, or other fire; but when baked in an oven it is called Agarom (g guttural.)

[177]Telde or Tildie is a place in the Atlas mountains, three miles east of Agadeer; the castle is in ruins.

[178]The Alarbes, this is the name that the inhabitants of Lower Suse and Sahara have, El Arab or Arabs.

[179]One Thomas Nicols, who lived seven years in the Canary Islands, and wrote a history of them, says that the best account he could get of the origin of the natives, was that they were exiles from Africa, banished thence by the Romans, who cut out their tongues for blaspheming their gods.

[180]For further particulars see Glasse’s History of the Canary Islands, 4to. page 174.

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CHAPTER XI.

General Commerce of Marocco. — Annual Exports and Imports of the Port of Mogodor. — Importance and Advantages of a Trade with the Empire of Marocco. — Cause of its Decline. — Present State of our Relations with the Barbary Powers.

The city of Marocco, besides its trade with the various districts of the interior, receives the most considerable supplies of European merchandize from the port of Mogodor, which is distant from it four days journey, caravan travelling;[181] some of the more valuable articles, however, are transported from Fas to the Marocco market, such as muslins, cambricks, spices, teas, pearls, coral, &c. and the elegant Fas manufactures of silk and gold. There is a considerable market held at Marocco every Thursday, called by the Arabs Soke-el-kumise,[182] which all articles of foreign as well as home manufacture are bought and sold, also horses,[183] horned cattle, slaves, &c. Samples of all kinds of merchandize are carried up and down the market and streets of the city by the Delels, or itinerant auctioneers, who proclaim the price offered, and when no one offers more, the best bidder is apprised of his purchase, the money is paid, and the transaction terminated.

The shops of Marocco are filled with merchandize of various kinds, many of which are supplied by the merchants of Mogodor, who receive, in return for European goods, the various articles of the produce of Barbary for the European markets. The credit which was given by the principal commercial houses of Mogodor to the natives has of late considerably decreased owing to the change of system in the government; for, in the reign of the present Emperor’s father, the European merchants were much respected, and their books considered as correct, so that a book debt was seldom disputed, and every encouragement was given to commerce by that Emperor; but Muley Soliman’s political principles differ so widely from those of his father, that the most trifling transaction should now be confirmed by law, to enable the European to be on equal terms with the Moor, and to entitle him to recover any property, or credit given; these measures have thrown various impediments in the way of commerce, insomuch that credit is either almost annihilated, or transformed into barter, which has necessarily thrown the trade into fewer hands, and consequently curtailed it in a great degree. For the purpose of showing at once the traffic carried on in the port of Mogodor, I shall here give an accurate account of its exports and imports during the years 1804, 1805, and the first six months of 1806, which are carefully extracted from the imperial custom-house books.