Curiously enough, since my return, there have been two other attempts made to impose upon me gifts to large amounts to secure my good-will. Of course I have declined to receive them, but I am almost ashamed to think that people should have such a poor opinion of my character as to venture upon making me such offers.
In proof that his kindness was not unrecognised by the natives, the following anecdote is told by Mrs. Chapman, Sir John’s only surviving sister:—
Two or three years after the famine in Morocco, one of the tribes from the interior sent a deputation of chiefs who asked to speak to John.
During the great scarcity, he had sent for corn from Spain, and dispatched camels laden with grain to the different tribes who were suffering from starvation, to relieve their distress and supply them with seed to sow their land.
The chiefs, fine hill-men, were received by my brother and unfolded the purpose of their mission. They said, ‘We have heard a report that you are about to dig a well in one of your gardens. We come to entreat you to allow us to do this thing for you, as a slight proof of our gratitude for your generosity. You heard that we and our families were starving; you did not know us, but you believe in the one God and Father of us all, and you would not let your brothers want; you sent your gold across the sea and caused a ship to come, laden with grain, and sent camels with sacks of corn for our food and to sow our land. God will reward you!—but let us do this little thing. We will come with our families and encamp around your garden, we will dig your well and tend your fruit and flowers and take nothing. We will bring our cattle and our sheep for food, and you shall be at no cost on our account. This will partly satisfy our desire to show our gratitude, and you, when you drink of the water of this well, will remember your poor brethren whom you saved from death, for love of the one God.’
John consented, and gave them leave to do as they wished.
When the report spread that these wild people were coming within a mile of Tangier, the alarmed townsfolk sent a messenger to beg my brother to dissuade the tribe from coming, declaring that they were much to be feared, and that their proximity would endanger the peace of the town. My brother told the messenger he would be responsible for the orderly conduct of the tribe.
They came and dug the well, the garden and grounds were left in perfect order, and the strangers quitted the neighbourhood in peace, going quietly back to their hills.
Another instance of the gratitude of which these wild people are capable may be inserted here, though the actual occurrence took place a few years later, and after another and similar bad season with failure of crops in the Rif.
In the stress of famine the starving mountaineers crowded, with their families, to Tangier in search of work and food. Strenuous efforts were made by the people of Tangier and the foreign Representatives to assist these unhappy folk. In reply to an appeal from Sir John, a large subscription was raised in Gibraltar, and expended in flour, which was sent for distribution to the care of the British Legation at Tangier.