Journal of a tour in Marocco and the Great Atlas

by Joseph Dalton Hooker; John Ball

It is clear that in that part of the empire increasing religious fanaticism has accompanied declining prosperity. In the sixteenth century Tarudant was resorted to by English and French merchants, and it was the seat of active trade, and of manufactures in copper which was extracted from mines in the neighbouring chain of the Great Atlas. The population was apparently then altogether of the native Berber stock. In the course of the continued efforts made by successive Sultans to establish their authority in the Sous province, the Moorish element became more and more predominant in the towns, and to this we may reasonably attribute their subsequent decline.

When Leo Africanus travelled in Sous, early in the sixteenth century, Tarudant was only one of many large and flourishing towns, and was much surpassed in importance by Tagavost, a place whose very name has disappeared from memory, and whose exact site is unknown to modern geographers.

Mr. Hunot, who is well acquainted with the city of Marocco, estimated the population at about 40,000, but admitted that there were no materials for an accurate guess on the subject. Fully one-fourth of the inhabitants had been carried off by the last visitation of cholera, from which the coast towns, with the sole exception of Mogador, had also suffered severely.

The main check to population in the greater part of the empire arises, however, from the recurrence of famines. These sometimes are caused by locusts, but are then of a partial and local character; but those consequent on the occasional failure of the winter and spring rains are not very unfrequent, and are of terrible severity. Among the means resorted to at such times for supporting life, we learned that the roots of a small plant of the Arum tribe are much used. This, known to botanists as Arisarum vulgare, is very common throughout North Africa, as well as in many parts of the south of Europe. It flowers in this country in winter, and the leaves wither and disappear in the spring. The root, which is not so large as an ordinary walnut, contains, as is usual in the Aroid tribe, an acrid juice, which makes it quite uneatable in the natural state. This, however, is easily removed by frequent washing of the pounded roots, and the residue is innoxious and nutritive. The same process has been applied with success to the common European plant, Arum maculatum, as well as to many exotic species of the same tribe.

Among the many difficulties that beset commercial intercourse with Marocco, the frequent interruption of internal traffic arising from frequent petty warfare between neighbouring tribes is not to be forgotten. A merchant may purchase a quantity of produce at what appears a remunerative price; but if he be unable to have it conveyed within a convenient time to the port whence it is to be shipped, his bargain may turn out a very bad one. At Mogador we had left things in a condition foreboding a complete suspension of communication with the interior; we now heard that owing to some local troubles the coast road from Saffi to Mogador was temporarily closed.

At nightfall we returned to our steamer, but found that we were to remain for the night in the roadstead of Saffi. On the next morning our obliging host, Mr. Hunot, again came on board, and we enjoyed his agreeable conversation until the time came for starting on the short run to Mazagan. We reached that place in the afternoon of June 9, and landed with Captain Bone at a wharf beside the Castle built by the Portuguese. It was proposed that we should go through the town, and visit the great cistern which was constructed during the prolonged Portuguese occupation of this place, and which enabled them to resist successfully the frequent sieges undertaken by the Moors. We preferred, however, to make use of the short time at our disposal in examining the vegetation near the shore on the north side of the town.

The net result of our short excursion was not very large or brilliant; but, in the case of a country so little known as Marocco, the interest of his collections to a naturalist does not mainly depend on the rarity or novelty of the objects he may happen to meet. Each plant or animal carried away contributes an item of information respecting the distribution of the organised world, the value of which it is impossible at the time to estimate. Travellers who happen to visit little-known countries would do well to remember that, with the most trifling expenditure of trouble, they may make useful contributions to natural science by preserving specimens of even the most insignificant-looking objects, provided always that these are afterwards placed in the hands of competent naturalists.[7]

We returned on board about sunset, but did not leave the roads of Mazagan till about 10 P.M. When we came on deck next morning, June 11, we were nearing the coast opposite Casa Blanca, and cast anchor soon after 7 A.M. We here found the Sydney Hall, belonging to the same owners as the Lady Havelock. She had left London on June 2, reached Casa Blanca on the 10th, and soon after our arrival started again on her outward voyage to Mogador and the Canary Islands. We had the pleasure of again seeing Mr. Dupuis, the active British Vice-Consul at Casa Blanca; but as our stay was to be short, and we had already made an excursion ashore, we did not now attempt to land.

During our return voyage our minds were once more exercised by the peculiar climatal conditions of this portion of the African coast. It did not appear that the cool temperature which had prevailed since our return to the neighbourhood of Mogador on the 1st inst. was considered in any way remarkable or unusual, although travellers who have visited the city of Marocco at this season speak of a temperature of 90° F. in the shade as not uncommon; and at Fez, though in the immediate vicinity of high mountains, still higher temperatures have been recorded. The direction of the wind on the coast in summer, which to the south of Cape Cautin is constantly between the north and north-east, is less uniform to the north of that limit; but the prevailing sign is NE., and this no doubt is the most important factor in determining the climate.

There is, however, another element that cannot be overlooked. When we examine the chart exhibiting the oceanic currents in the North Atlantic, compiled at our Meteorological Office, and fix our attention on the portion lying between the 30th and 40th degrees of latitude, and extending from the coasts of Portugal and Marocco to 20° of west longitude, we find that the currents throughout this large area constantly move in a direction between SE. and SSE., with an average velocity which increases from about five miles per day in the longitude of Madeira, to at least ten miles as we approach within 100 miles of the shores of Europe and Africa. This velocity again diminishes with a nearer approach to land; and, from a few observations, it would seem that along the Marocco coast the current is deflected in a SW. direction, parallel to that of the coast line.