The pillars of Hercules

by David Urquhart

The strangeness of this people, instead of wearing off, increases with acquaintance—so much ease and facility at one moment, is followed by unexpected and unaccountable difficulties. The dramatic, not the speculative, man is strong in them. What can be more surprising, at this moment, than their total forgetfulness of the existence of France: how would it shock the pride of the victor to find that the defeated have already forgotten Isly and Mogadore! When I saw to-day the dense mass of the tens of thousands tranquilly performing their Baïram, I thought of the Greeks celebrating their Olympic games with the Persians at Thermopylæ.

However primitive Morocco may be in its customs, it has to be borne in mind that the convulsions which accompanied the rise, and more particularly the fall, of the Beni Marinc dynasty, and the almost total subjugation of the country by Portugal, and then the civil war (and that ensued before the establishment of a Sheriffean dynasty), reduced this region, in a period of two generations, to an almost chaotic state. What shipwreck must there have been of old usages! A few traces appear in the three or four meagre works written on Africa in the sixteenth century.

The town of Salee, as described by Leo Africanus, would scarcely be recognised in the city which lay before me, of which I could measure the dimensions and observe the contents, though I could not pass the gates.

“It is most pleasantly situate upon the sea-shore, within half a mile of Rabat, both which town and the river Barugrag separateth in sunder. The buildings of this town carry a show of antiquity on them, being artificially carved and stately supported with marble pillars. Their temples are most beautiful, and their shops are built under large porches; and at the end of every row of shops is an arch, which (as they say) is to divide one occupation from another. And to say all in a word, here is nothing wanting which may be required, either in a most honourable city, or in a flourishing commonwealth. Moreover, here resort all kinds of merchants, Christians, and others. Here the Genoese, Venetians, English, and Low Dutch used to traffic. The inhabitants do weave most excellent cotton. Here, likewise, are made very fine combs, which are sold in all the kingdom of Fez; for the region thereabout yieldeth great plenty of box and of other wood fit for the same purpose. Their Government is very orderly and discreet, even until this day; for they have most learned judges, umpires, and deciders of doubtful cases in law.

“This town is frequented by many rich merchants of Genoa, whom the king hath always had in great regard, because he gaineth much yearly by their traffic. The said merchants have their abode and diet partly here at Salla, and partly at Fez, from both which towns they mutually help the traffic, one of another.”

The change in the disposition of the people is not less marked than that in the character of the city. Little would one suspect to-day, that two centuries ago, Christians were thus hospitably received and kindly treated in Salee. He continues:—“In the year of the Hegira, 670, it was surprised by a Castilian captain, the inhabitants being put to flight, and the Christians enjoying the city. * * * And albeit this town was in so few days recovered from the enemy, yet a world it was to see what a wonderful alteration both of the houses and of the state of government happened. Many houses of this town are left desolate, especially near the town walls; which, albeit, they are most stately and curiously built, yet no man there is that will inhabit them.”

Dec. 11th.

I have seen several of the renegades. The French are the only ones who have any knowledge by which they may be useful. One came to talk about a project of a wire suspension bridge over the Seboo. He remained nearly the whole day, and detailed his life and adventures during the dozen years he has been in this country. Several of them have been with Abd-el Kadir. They spoke in high terms of the presumed succession of the Sultan, and of some other leading men. With these few exceptions, their discourse was most unfavourable to the Moors, whom they called cowards and braggarts. In their battles the loss never exceeded twenty men; and a single French regiment might march to Morocco. The Arabs, they said, were divided amongst themselves; but the Brebers were still more so; and the art of Government here consisted in setting one tribe against another, and one chief against another. Their remedy was disciplined troops. If the Emperor, said one of them, had had five thousand disciplined men, he never would have received M. Roche.

I said, that if the Emperor had known how to transact a matter of business, he never would have been insulted by the presence of that person, and that one hundred thousand men would not give him that knowledge. I instanced Spain and Algiers as evidence of the power of resistance of a country destitute, not of regular troops only, but of a Government. I added, that a regular army facilitated invasion, but not defence, and generally proved the means of rendering a people an easy prey. Certainly, to put an army at the disposal of the Emperor of Morocco would be the means of doing so.

Abd-el-Kadir was rated very low, and spoken of very little. The Europeans admired him for his valour, enterprise, generosity, and humanity; but did not respect his military judgment. They said that he uselessly exposed men and tribes, threw away great opportunities, and afforded to the French the means of extending their authority.