APPENDIX I.
MOORISH STORIES AND FABLES.
From much information that has been kindly furnished to us by Mr. Freeman Rogers, a gentleman who was several years resident in Marocco, and had become familiar with the people and their language and manners, the following extracts have been taken for the sake of the light which they throw on the condition of the country. It being the main object of this volume to relate our personal experiences, we have not been able to avail ourselves of much information supplied to us by Mr. Rogers, and other competent witnesses; but it has appeared to us that the extracts here given form a useful supplement to the facts which came to our knowledge during our short stay in Marocco, and will help the reader to form a truer conception of its present condition.
The stories, which may be said to have a political character, furnished to us by Mr. F. Rogers, all refer to events that have occurred during the last twenty-five years, and are precisely similar in character to others which were passing at the time of our visit. They are accepted as substantially accurate by our informant, and we see no reason to refuse them credence. They certainly tally with the universal belief of the natives as to the conduct of their rulers. Any one who is familiar with the chronicles of the Middle Ages, who has marvelled at the deeds of ferocious cruelty recorded of German petty rulers, or the more refined atrocities of Italian princes, must sometimes have felt a wish to know what manner of men they were who committed these deeds. To satisfy such a curiosity, he cannot do better than pay a visit to the interior of Marocco. If duly commended to their good offices, he will be received by men of stately and courteous manners, prompt to display a lavish hospitality, who will inevitably send him away with a favourable impression; but before he has been many weeks in the country, he will become aware that these amiable hosts are habitually guilty of deeds of combined ferocity and treachery that equal, if they do not surpass, those of the dark periods of European history.
The popular fables, which were taken down from the mouth of an old Moorish story-teller, and literally translated by Mr. Rogers, complete the impression derived from the fragments of contemporary history. They all turn upon the success of fraud and force in the affair’s of life. The moral, so to speak, of all is ‘woe to the weak and the confiding;’ but admiration is mainly given to those who supply the place of strength by successful perfidy.
Abd el Saddock, Kaïd of Mogador, Duquallah, Abda, and Sous.[1]
On one occasion this Kaïd was sent to Sous by the Sultan to reduce some provinces to submission. When arrived there, a grand entertainment was given to him by the refractory Sheiks, and immense quantities of provisions sent in to supply the guests, among which was a large quantity of a particular dish of which the Kaïd was known to be very fond, and this was all poisoned. The Kaïd, suspecting from the Sheiks’ importunity for him to eat of it that it was poisoned, ordered his soldiers to guard the doors and let no one escape, and then called upon the Sheiks one by one to partake of the dish. Most of the Sheiks refused to eat, and some few came cheerfully forward at the Kaïd’s call; those who refused were compelled to eat, and those who came cheerfully forward were not allowed to eat; and so the Kaïd in one day not only got rid of his enemies, but saved his friends, whom he rewarded by putting them in the place of those who fell by their own treachery.
Kaïd Boh Djemma.
Some short time after the news of the foregoing had spread over the country, a revolt took place at Shedma, and many of the Sheiks made themselves conspicuous by their opposition to the Kaïd, who determined to get rid of all his enemies at one blow; he therefore made peace with them, and all seemed well and tranquil for some time. At last came the holiday l’ashora, or the day of the Sultan’s tenthing, when an invitation was issued by the Kaïd to all his Sheiks to appear at his entertainment; none dare refuse, and so all went. The Kaïd had, in the meantime, prepared a large room, into which he sent the Sheiks known to be his enemies, and another into which he sent those known to be his friends. When all had feasted until they could eat no more, the Kaïd quietly ordered the windows and doors to be closed, the men to be bound, burning charcoal to be placed in the room, and the doors then to be built up, and all left to their fate. Nine days afterwards, when the room was opened, nothing remained of all those men, some twenty-two or twenty-three, but bones, attesting the fatal effects of burning charcoal and the daring ferocity of the rats; except one man whom the Kaïd pardoned, believing him to be innocent, as his life seemed to be so miraculously preserved.