[From the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. vii., p. 144—172.]
Extracts from the Correspondence of the late Mr. Davidson, during his residence in Morocco; with an Account of his further progress in the Desert.[127]
The much-lamented close of Mr. Davidson’s life, an event which every member of the Geographical Society will unite in deploring, has made it the melancholy duty of that body to preserve some record of his latest exertions in pursuit of geographical knowledge. For that purpose his various friends and correspondents were requested to place in the hands of the Secretary such of his letters as contained any observations of moment; to this request they readily acceded, and the acknowledgments of the Society are more particularly due to his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, to whose gracious encouragement Mr. Davidson was mainly indebted for his favourable reception in Morocco, and who, with his wonted liberality, has allowed the transcription of the most interesting communications received from that enterprising traveller. To the extracts from Mr. Davidson’s own letters, are added such accounts as have been at different times forwarded respecting his further progress and the fatal determination of his journey, the particulars of which are still involved in some doubt, though concerning the main point, the loss of his valuable life, there is unhappily no place for hope.
It would have been highly gratifying had it been possible to introduce these extracts to the reader, by a detailed memoir of Mr. Davidson’s extensive travels in every quarter of the globe; but the materials furnished by such various and remote journeys could not have been collected and arranged in the short period which has elapsed since the sad intelligence of his end has been authenticated. Those journeys were also performed before their author was in correspondence with this Society, and for that reason are not necessarily connected with its Journal. His instructive lecture on the site of Jerusalem and the movements of the investing armies, the manuscript of which, had it received its author’s last corrections, would have formed a suitable counterpart to his description of a mummy which he opened and described after his return from Egypt, might have been inserted in this collection, had it not been too closely confined to topography and history to be properly placed among geographical disquisitions.
In the summer of 1835, Mr. Davidson, whose ardour was not checked by the many hazards and difficulties he had already experienced, formed the adventurous project of a journey into the heart of Africa, by what may be termed the most direct route. He therefore embarked in September, 1835, for Gibraltar, on his way to Morocco, from which country he hoped to reach Tumbuktú by the route of Tâfilêlt, the road by which Réné Caillé travelled from that city northwards. To the almost insurmountable obstacles which would meet him at every step, Mr. Davidson was no stranger. His personal courage, however, his power of enduring fatigue and change of climate, readiness at finding expedients to obviate difficulties, and, above all, his peculiar urbanity, which could not fail to prepossess even strangers in his favour, gave his friends, and still more perhaps himself, a confidence which even those excellent qualifications could hardly justify. To many other accomplishments particularly valuable in such an undertaking he added a considerable knowledge of medicine, to which, indeed, he was in the main indebted for the accomplishment of that part of his journey which he did execute; and should his papers have escaped the notice of the savages who assassinated him, they may hereafter add another leaf to the laurels with which his brow is already graced.
The only person by whom Mr. Davidson was accompanied was a negro baptized in the West Indies by the appellation of Edward Donnelan, but better known in this country by his Muselmán name of Abú Bekr, of whom some account has been given in this Journal.[128] He is occasionally mentioned in the following letters by the name of Abou, and should he not have sunk under the privations and fatigues of the desert, may possibly hereafter supply us with a more authentic account of his lamented employer’s end than any which we have hitherto received.
Mr. Davidson, as was before remarked, was well aware of the difficulties which awaited him, and at Gibraltar, where he was detained nearly three months by the impossibility of clearing his way into the empire of Morocco, he met Mr. Hay, his Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General in Barbary, who “seems to think” (he says in a letter to Dr. Lee, dated 13th September, 1835) “that we shall not be able to get on.” His resolution was not so easily to be shaken; he proceeded to Tangier,[129] and after waiting there a considerable time, had at length the satisfaction of informing his brother, Mr. T. Davidson, on the 13th December, that he had “that morning received a most kind and flattering letter from the Sultán of Morocco, accompanied by a few lines from his minister,” commanding him to repair to the court, where he should experience nothing but what would be agreeable to him. This letter was accompanied by another to “El’ Arbi Essaidi, the káïd of Tangier, directing him to provide everything for his safe conduct, and enclosing letters to all the governors by whom he had to pass, that they should pay him respect, honour, and hospitality, inasmuch as he was travelling to benefit his fellow-creatures; that the governor [al-káïd] should provide him a guard of ten horsemen, commanded by a káïd [captain], who would enforce respect and ensure the due performance of the Sultan, their master’s orders, which were that he should be treated with respect and consideration; and that his Majesty enclosed for him, the governor [of Tanjah], money for the soldiers, and extra pay for the káïd, who were to act under his orders, and be guided by his discretion.” “Such,” he adds, “is the manner, after a delay of three months, that I commence my arduous undertaking. I almost fear it is of too flattering a character, but must only use the more discretion.”
Antecedently to the receipt of these gracious orders from the Sultán, Mr. Davidson’s residence at Tanjah had not been either agreeable or encouraging, as appears from the following extract from a letter to Dr. Lee, written (10th December) only three days before the last:—“My good and grateful companion [Abú Bekr] begs me to forward the few lines he has this morning written to you, and I wish I could send you any particulars as to our journey, or any new observations on the small portion of this country which we have seen. With the exception of two or three excursions, [at] the utmost under fifty miles, I have been confined to the walls of this place, waiting the Sultán’s permission to proceed into the interior. The jealousy of this people exceeds all belief; their insults [are] innumerable, and I fear their determination is not to allow us to proceed. I have, however, by means of a few presents, bought the interest of the governor of this place and of Tetuan, and have been allowed to visit the places in the neighbourhood, but never without a soldier, from whose view I cannot proceed one step. I have examined some of the neighbouring mountains, most rich in iron, and specimens of jaspar and large masses of fossils. I have also passed some hours at the various douars,[130] or Arab encampments, have taken measurements of the ruins of the Outset,[131] or Pharaoh’s Peg, as it is called; some observations on which I hope shortly to send to England. I propose next week, should I not receive my permission to proceed south, [to] go from hence to the Divarretts, amongst whose hills are some Bedouins. One large tribe, who used to escort the hadjis from this to Mecca, still remain in the neighbourhood; and I think some of them would for a good consideration take me to Mourzouk, from whence I could get upon the caravan-track for Soudan. I have had some conversation with the Sheïk of Wadnoon[132] here, on his return from Mecca; but he states he cannot take me through Morocco, but will protect me, should I get to his dominions. The second rains have commenced with more than usual violence, and part of the country is impassable, which may account in some degree for [my] not receiving my answer from Morocco. I shall lose no time as soon as I receive this, nor shall I delay more than this month, and if this fail, I shall commence the year by a new route. My health, thank God, is very good; but I am sorry to say that Abou has had his sight much affected; and I fear he is very unequal to the journey. I am taking every care of him by nursing him; and he is too, I grieve to say, an object of great suspicion.”
Secure under such a protection, Mr. Davidson lost no time in proceeding to the capital, and had the satisfaction of giving his brother an account of his progress in the following letter:—