We had been many times struck by the demeanour of the wild birds during our journey from Mogador. They seem in this country to be quite free from what we look on as the instinctive fear of man, which in truth is an inherited tendency only in those countries where the human population habitually pursues them. As we rode along, the turtle doves, which abound wherever there are trees or bushes, scarcely seemed to notice our passage, and would remain perched upon a bough close beside the track. Here in the city of Marocco a small bird about the size of a sparrow, but much more elegant in shape and attractive from its green-grey plumage—the Fringillaria Saharæ—displayed still greater boldness. During our meals, which were always taken in the central saloon open to the sky, they would boldly alight beside us, and pick up the crumbs that were sometimes purposely scattered for their benefit.
We saw nothing of the harmless serpents, one of which at least is said to inhabit every house in Marocco, and which the natives consider it unlucky to destroy or drive away. Probably they find the food that suits them only in inhabited houses, and ours had been so long untenanted that they had deserted the empty rooms.
Sunday, May 7, was fully employed in completing the arrangements for our journey, and packing up the botanical collections already secured. Our men had doubtless enjoyed the rest, and were gratified by a distribution of new shoes, or rather slippers, which replaced those pretty thoroughly worn out on the journey from Mogador. In a country where the surface is generally stony, and the soil abounds in plants beset by thick sharp spines, the thin slippers universally used by the people are very soon consumed.
Abraham appeared to-day gorgeously arrayed in a new suit, with dark yellow boots such as are worn by Moors of the better class. He had grown much in importance during the last few days, since, in his capacity as our interpreter, he, a Jew, has sat with his slippers on in the presence of El Graoui, the most powerful subject in Marocco.
With regard to the position of the Jews, there can be no doubt that the benevolent efforts of Sir Moses Montefiore, backed up by the representatives of England and other civilised States, have produced some permanent effect. In the coast towns, under the eyes of European consular agents, they seem to enjoy security from violence, and even from insult. In the city of Marocco, where they inhabit a separate quarter, walled in and accessible only by two gates, they are safe so long as they keep within those limits; but they are still forced to walk barefoot when they pass into the city, and are exposed to derision and insult against which they dare not protest. In the remoter parts of the territory, where their scattered communities are found here and there, their condition is apparently still worse, and they are frequently subjected to brutal ill-usage; but even there their superior intelligence and skill in industrial crafts, for which the Moor is incompetent, secures them a certain degree of consideration.[2]
We this day made acquaintance with Kaïd el Hasbi, the captain of the escort of five men, who, along with our Mogador guard, was to travel with us through the Atlas. Nature had given him a disagreeable countenance with a forbidding expression, and our subsequent experience fully confirmed the first unfavourable impression.
It had been arranged that our first day’s journey from Marocco was to be a short one, and accordingly our final start on Monday, May 8, was delayed until 8 A.M. Our large tent, too heavy for mules, had been sent back to Mogador; but, nevertheless, our baggage formed a very sufficient load for nine mules. Not counting our interpreter and Hooker’s European attendant, we had nine followers engaged in various capacities, besides twelve men in charge of the hired animals, making up altogether, with the escort, who numbered nine privates and two officers, a party of thirty-seven men and thirty-three horses and mules. We wound slowly through the filthy lanes of the Jews’ quarter, and went out by the south-east gate of the city, having on our right the high wall that encloses the vast gardens attached to the Sultan’s residence. Having entered the city through groves of the date-palm, the foliage of which is too tough for the teeth of the locust, we had scarcely noticed these pernicious creatures on that occasion; but in the well-irrigated tracts south and west of the city which are devoted to tillage they had this year been more than usually destructive. It is in their young condition, while still active on the wing, that their voracity is greatest; but in that stage it is practically impossible to contend with them. When they have attained their full growth they become unwieldy, and at length nearly torpid; and it is then that the natives endeavour to exterminate them, with a view to prevent the females from depositing their countless eggs and leaving to the district a legacy of future devastation.
It seemed that El Graoui, for his own reasons, wished to give us a parting testimony of good-will and favour, without at the same time committing himself too glaringly for native ideas. It was not, doubtless, by mere accident that about a mile outside the walls we found him close to our track, with a train of mounted attendants, superintending the process of locust slaughter, and were informed that he wished to bid us farewell. Mounted on a splendid black charger, the old man, in spite of his unwieldy figure, had a commanding appearance. His manner was quite friendly; and, as the brief conversation proceeded, he rode along with us for a couple of hundred yards, and then shook hands with many good wishes for our safety and success.
The process of locust destruction which El Graoui was supposed to superintend was of the rudest description. The bodies of the bloated sluggish insects are swept into heaps with rough brooms, and a fire of twigs is then lighted over each heap. On the way from Sektana to Mogador, Maw afterwards saw another more expeditious process adopted in a part of the country intersected by open irrigation channels. Rough screens made of reeds are set up along one side of the watercourse, as shown in the annexed cut, and the inactive insects, being driven against them, fall into the water and are drowned. Some effect may doubtless be produced by these contrivances; but it seems very doubtful whether, if every locust that reaches the inhabited districts were destroyed, the plague would be materially abated. In a region including wide tracts almost without population there are unlimited opportunities for depositing the eggs; from these arise countless swarms, which, in their active condition, are capable of traversing wide spaces in search of nourishment. The suppression of the locust plague probably
