When the rest were disposed of, there remained the two officers. Towards Kaïd el Hadj, who had always maintained a friendly and respectful bearing, we had none but kindly feelings. When, in addition to the present of twelve dollars, Hooker handed him a silver watch, a large sheath-knife, and a few smaller presents, the old man was quite overcome; his eyes were filled with tears; and he took leave of us with many pious wishes for our future welfare. As regards El Hasbi the case was very different. He had from the very day of our departure from Marocco done his utmost to defeat our wishes and plans, and had not even the grace to veil his opposition beneath a civil exterior. Hooker decided on writing a letter to El Graoui, reporting our opinion of the conduct of his subordinate, and sending this to the great man with a sum of ten dollars, to be given to El Hasbi, or withheld, as he might decide.
The Haha troubles affected our pockets in an unexpected way. In ordinary times there is a constant demand for baggage animals at Mogador, and we were led to expect that we should sell at a profit the mules that we had bought at Marocco. The usual price at Mogador is from 8l. to 10l. for a serviceable beast. But in the present state of the neighbouring country the roads were considered unsafe, and traffic with the interior was almost completely stopped. We were therefore considered rather fortunate in selling our team of mules at about 5l. apiece.
In the course of the day we had a fresh illustration of native manners that somewhat amused us, for we were no longer in the frame of mind in which a slight abuse of authority could shock our European ideas. The Mogador brass-workers have a high reputation throughout Marocco, and during our first stay in the town we had ordered a variety of articles from the man who was considered the most skilful in his craft. The time fixed for delivering the goods was fully a week before the actual date of our return. When Mr. Carstensen heard that the order had not been executed at the appointed time, he sent a message informing the Governor of the fact; and the latter forthwith had the man thrown into prison, and appointed a soldier to keep guard, and see that he did no other work than that promised to us. After two or three days the prisoner got some friend to intercede with Mr. Carstensen for his release, and at the instance of the latter the Governor relented. To-day the articles were all duly brought to the Consulate, and the maker seemed well content with the very moderate payment agreed upon.
We should have gladly made our return voyage in the comfortable steamer Verité, that had carried us from Tangier, but the date of her arrival on her return from the Canary Islands to Marseilles was uncertain. Meanwhile the Lady Havelock steamer, plying between the Marocco coast and London, had reached Mogador, and we resolved to take our passage by that conveyance to Tangier.
Farewell visits and the packing of our collections occupied the greater part of the day on June 6. At the wharf the port labourers were busy in shipping large bales of esparto grass, which chiefly comes from the adjoining province of Haha. This is now largely consumed by paper-makers in France and England. It is said that the greater part of what reaches England from Marocco is used in the paper-mills that supply the ‘Times’ newspaper.
A caravan had lately reached Mogador from the Soudan, and we saw several bales of ostrich feathers lying on the wharf. They were imperfectly covered with coarse sacking; and the outer layer of feathers, soiled and broken, seemed to be quite worthless, although the total value of such a bale must be very considerable. Some trade routes in Central Asia and elsewhere in the world involve terrible hardships to those engaged in the transport; but it seems that there is none nearly so formidable as that from Timbuktou to Marocco. In several directions the way across the Great Desert is facilitated by the occurrence of oases at moderate intervals; as in the way from Tafilelt to Touat, and in the line followed by the Arab traders from Tripoli to Murzouk. But throughout the greater part of the way from Timbuktou to Akka there appear to be no true oases. Wells are few and far between, and the supply of water often miserably scanty; and even when a caravan escapes all the dangers of the long way, and the bones of men and camels are not left to bleach upon the burning-sands, the sufferings of the travellers must reach the verge of human endurance.[4] At the present day the regular caravans no longer attempt to reach Marocco or Fez by way of Tafilelt, the routes over the Atlas being too insecure. The bad reputation of the Oued Noun people is equally effectual in closing the coast route from the south to Mogador; and the course adopted is by the oasis of Akka, lying south of the Anti-Atlas range, and about 100 miles east of Oued Noun. From Akka to Agadir the way rounds the western extremity of Anti-Atlas, through a hilly and populous country, which appears to be safe enough for any but Christian travellers.
Among other articles exported from Mogador is the brown gum arabic of commerce, which comes chiefly from Demnet, and elsewhere on the skirts of the Atlas east of Marocco. If native testimony is to be credited, the Acacia producing this gum is not different from that which we saw growing abundantly in Haha and elsewhere through the hilly country,[5] though we did not hear of any gum being exported from the western provinces. It seems unlikely that this plant, named by Willdenow Acacia gummifera, should be the only one of a group of allied species extending across Northern Africa that produces no gum. We were interested in finding that the parcel shown to us, sent for export from Mogador, was packed in the dry stems and leaves of a Ceratophyllum, a genus of aquatic plants not hitherto seen in Marocco.
During the afternoon the two natives who were despatched two days before returned safely from Haha, driving before them a donkey laden with the Agadir Euphorbia. Hooker’s suspicion was at once verified. The plant of the coast region is quite different from the gum-producing species of the inland region, but in appearance it comes near the East Indian species, E. officinarum of Linnæus. Under the name E. Beaumieriana, the coast plant, which has yet not been collected in flower or fruit, along with E. resinifera from Demnet, and another new species brought by a native collector from the southern borders of Sous, has been carefully described by our friend M. Cosson.
In the course of the evening we went by invitation to a Jewish wedding, which was celebrated in the house of one of the chief Israelite families in the town. The proceedings were quite in accordance with the descriptions given by other travellers in Marocco. The bride, who sat cross-legged, arrayed in gorgeous attire, had regular features and large dark eyes, but seemed dazed and stupified by the crowd, the noise, the glare of many lights, and the heat of the close rooms, from which we were not sorry soon to escape.
On June 7 the time for our departure arrived, and towards sunset we went on board the Lady Havelock, accompanied by our kind host, Mr. Carstensen, and by the late Mr. Grace, the representative of one of the chief English mercantile houses engaged in the Marocco trade, to whom we were indebted for numerous marks of attention during our stay in South Marocco.