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.