CHAPTER IX

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RESIDENCE AT MARÁKESH AND RETURN TO TANGIER. 1846.

_April 9._ Twenty-five guards were sent by the Sultan last night to be distributed around the garden and walls of the palace, so we are well taken care of. The chief of the guard wanted to lock my door on the outside: I must indeed be very precious to be considered worthy of such care; and, like a strange bird of value, am well fed and closely caged. I hear also that one hundred cavalry patrol the streets near our dwelling every night. To-day we are as state prisoners and must take our rest _malgré nous_, I am not to see the Sultan or his ministers, I understand, according to the usual form, till I have had at least three days’ rest: this is tiresome, for I should best be pleased by an immediate audience and the prompt conclusion of all I have to say or settle.

The garden that surrounds our house, and in which our horses are picketed, is a wilderness; full of orange, olive, walnut, palm, plum and pear-trees, with vines, pomegranates and rose-trees in full flower. A harvest of beautiful rose blossoms is gathered every morning for making attar of roses. From our terrace on the house top little is to be seen but low ruins with gardens, and here and there a tall mosque, whilst within a few hundred yards of our palace towers the Kutubía with its gilded ball on the top. This ancient mosque is still in good preservation, and is used as a place of worship, so there is no hope of our seeing the interior. The tower does not appear so high as that of Hassan at Rabát, nor indeed so symmetrical or ornamented, nevertheless it is a beautiful remnant of Moorish architecture, and proudly rears its lofty head above the miserable dwellings of the modern Moor.

_April 10._ The Uzir has sent for my interpreter this morning. I primed David, and told him to mention my wishes to come to business and have an audience without delay.

A curious incident took place during David’s visit to the Uzir. I sent with him my soldier Abd-el-Kerim and a servant, Hadj Abd Selam, who is a Sheríf and the grandson of the patron saint of Tangier, Sid Mohammed-el-Hadj. The Uzir, on hearing who the latter was, went forward and kissed the hem of his garment, asking for his blessing; yet this holy man serves me in the double capacity of housemaid and valet.

Whilst writing this, the Sheríf and my servant Kaddor have come to tell me they have just seen the Sultan returning from the mosque. When His Majesty approached they prostrated themselves on the ground. The Sultan reined in his horse and sent an usher to ask who they were and from whence they came. They replied, ‘We are servants of the Roman’ (meaning me). His Majesty sent them a civil message and rode on. We are living indeed in a country where there is a strange mixture of patriarchal and tyrannical government.

_April 11._ Rode out at three o’clock, accompanied by the Lieutenant-Governor, the Kaid of the town-guards, and a dozen of foot-soldiers, also some of my own escort. I requested to be shown round the outside of the town. After riding through dilapidated streets, in which there were no signs of present or past opulence either in the buildings or in anything else (Ben Yáhia calls this town the ‘Mother of Villages,’ meaning that it is composed of poor buildings), we sallied out of one of the gates of the town and commenced the circuit.

On our left were several picturesque tombs: here the great saint, Sid Bel-Abbas, is interred, also many of the Sultans; amongst others, Mulai Yazid, whose mother was an Irishwoman.

It is said that formerly the Moors erected busts or effigies over the tombs of the Sultans in this city, typical of their good or bad qualities. Thus the liberal Sultan was depicted with a hand extended; the sordid one with his hand closed; the warrior with a sword. Mulai Yazid, being both a warrior and liberal, was represented with one hand open and a sword in the other.

Mulai Soliman, in a fit of fanaticism, destroyed all these effigies as being impious and against the interpretation of the law of the Prophet Mohammed, and ordered inscriptions to be written in their places.

As we passed near this spot a negro saint, or holy maniac, brandished a club at us. But the Lieutenant-Governor, beckoning him to his side, kissed his garment, and the saint, patting his Excellency on the back, satisfied his diseased brain by pointing his stick, as a gun, at our cursed Nazareneships. The Lieutenant-Governor was not communicative and seemed to dislike the evening’s jaunt; so, I suppose, he accompanied me _malgré lui_. He rode the whole way muttering his prayers, and every now and then, holding his hand in the manner that is called ‘fatha’ towards some distant saint’s tomb, he appeared to pray; but perhaps called down imprecations on our doomed heads. God bless the old fool! If I had an hour’s talk with him, I would leave him some doubts as to which of us is the most fit for Jehannum.

We rode for an hour-and-a-half round the walls, and yet, as I am told, had not got half way. As sunset was nigh, I proposed to finish our ride round the town another day.

We entered a gate near the Kutubía mosque, and passing by a very handsome archway, now blocked up, but formerly, I am told, leading to a Governor’s house, we rode past ruins and through gardens in the midst of them. This town was once very extensive. It is said to have had formerly four hundred thousand inhabitants. I don’t give it now a hundred thousand. The ancient mosques, which are numerous and very handsome, show what it must have been; and the inside of the Kutubía, of which we had a glance in passing, is quite a maze of columns. An old soldier of the Second Guards, in writing of this capital, described its numerous but narrow streets in ancient times thus: ‘When the traveller entered the city gates he did not see sunshine again until he left the town.’ In speaking of the value of the land, which is now worthless and sold at the lowest price for gardens, he said, ‘Ground was formerly purchased by covering the surface to be bought with coins laid close to one another.’ He spoke also of the denseness of the population, the wealth of the inhabitants, and facility of making money in those times, and records a tradition that a vendor of sugar-plums made five hundred ducats in one day by hawking his goods at Bab-el-Khemés—or Thursday-gate—which is now closed.

I should have mentioned that we passed, outside the town, the Hara, or village of lepers; it is close to the walls of the city.

Two lepers were standing near the roadside begging. I gave them a few pieces of money. These wretched people live almost entirely upon alms. The Sultan gives them annually about seven thousand ducats, or about a thousand pounds sterling. I hear that their children prove sometimes quite free of the malady, but the curse is in their blood and they must remain in the Hara and intermarry with lepers. People of bad character, or those condemned for crime, often, I am told, escape to the Hara, and find concealment there by assuming the covering of the lepers and living with them, until perhaps they become lepers or their crimes are forgotten.

_April 12._ Received a letter from the Sultan, at half-past six this morning, to say that H.S.M. had appointed eight a.m. for the audience. I tumbled out of bed and gave my directions to prepare the presents and to have each box borne by a mule and the smaller cases on the heads of men—altogether eleven packages. Whilst I was yet dressing, the Kaid Madáni—General of the Sultan’s household troops—came to say that we were to mount and leave our dwelling at half-past seven. We were punctual to our time: I, leading the van, with the Kaid Madáni; St. Leger, Escazena and the Doctor immediately behind us. Having traversed various narrow streets and lanes, and passed under some half-dozen horse-shoe archways, we entered a large square in front of the Sultan’s palace, in ‘Ghásats E’Nil.’ The entrance to this palace, where the Sultan’s ladies are living, is through a gate called ‘Bab Khadár,’ or ‘the Green Gate.’ We left this gate and the forbidden fruit it led to, on our left. Before we had reached the opposite side of the square, messengers were running backwards and forwards, from the Uzir and Mul Meshwa (the Lord High Chamberlain) to the Kaid Madáni, telling us to halt, or to advance. After several halts, we came to the gate of Kubbats E’Suiera, or the ‘Picture Cupola.’ Here we dismounted, and leaving our animals and the presents at the door, entered again into another large yard or square, about a quarter of a mile in length and rather less in breadth. The sides were lined with soldiers, who presented arms to us in the Moorish fashion—i.e. shouldering them.

In front of the gateway of the palace, or rather kiosk, were placed three brass field-pieces (about eight pounders) and three dismounted iron guns (twenty-four pounders). Two soldiers, shouldering each a long pike, stood near the cannon facing the kiosk. Here we were again halted for a couple of minutes, when the Mul Meshwa beckoned us forward and, advancing at a very slow, respectful pace, we approached the Sherifian gate. The entrance to the kiosk was not what I should have expected, for it was on a small scale and poorly ornamented. In the hall sat several of the Sherifian secretaries and clerks. Here again we were made to pause before we were brought to the foot of a narrow winding staircase, which we ascended, preceded by the Mul Meshwa. On reaching the landing, where there was a gallery commanding a fine view of a vast garden on the one side and of the court through which we had passed on the other, I saw two figures standing in a doorway to our right. These persons were the Grand Uzir, Ben Dris, and the Minister, Sid Alarbi Mokta. The Mul Meshwa now stepped forward to the open doorway and made a low bow; I followed, and discovered the Sultan seated on an ordinary chair, near an open window. I then also made a low bow, and His Majesty said in a loud voice and with a kind manner, ‘Zid’ (approach)—the Mul Meshwa adding in a low voice, ‘our Lord says approach.’

The Mul Meshwa had now taken off his shoes, and, holding in my right hand the Queen’s letter of credence, I advanced a few paces and made another low bow. The Sultan repeated the word ‘Zid,’ so again bowing I approached within about five steps of where H.S.M. was seated and, placing myself immediately in front of him, as the Mul Meshwa intimated, repeated my respectful obeisance. The Mul Meshwa retired and I stood alone with the Sultan, who, looking very gracious and smiling, said, ‘You are welcome! The bonds of peace and friendship which have existed from ancient time between our ancestors and the ancestors of your sovereign still continue and shall endure. We hold your Queen and nation as the most friendly, above all sovereigns and nations, to our Royal person.

‘We knew your father; he was well inclined to us, proved a faithful servant of the two Governments, and we held him in favour as one of the chosen of the Empire. We have now become acquainted with you, and the friendship and good-will which we held towards your father shall be inherited by you. What is your first name?’

Bowing, I replied, and the Sultan resumed: ‘You are the bearer of a letter from your Queen.’ Then, calling Ben Dris, said to him, ‘Take the letter for me from the Consul; I shall read it and the answer shall be given, if it please God, at another time.’

Sid Ben Dris advanced barefoot, and, making a low bow, took the letter and retired to his post.

The Sultan, having paused in his speech, I made a suitable reply.

The Sultan then made a sign to the Mul Meshwa to advance and said to him, ‘Show the Consul my gardens, and take him wherever he wishes, so as to afford him amusement and pleasure.’

Before I quit this subject I must record the appearance and dress of Sultan Mulai Abderahman. He appeared a middle-sized man of some sixty years of age with a dark complexion, of a shade lighter than that of a mulatto, short black beard, arched eyebrows, large black eyes with a slight squint in one eye (but not so as to give an unpleasant expression), nose long and aquiline. He had a healthy appearance, and a very kind and benign expression of face. He was dressed in a white ‘haik’ which hid his under garments; over the ‘haik’ he wore a white ‘sulham,’ or burnous; on his head a high red cap and a white turban, and yellow slippers on his bare feet. There was no emblem of royalty near his person, nor any attendant except those outside the room.

It has been the custom for the Sultan to give his first audience to Europeans in my position, on horseback, with the Imperial umbrella over his head and in an open court. My reception is considered a very favourable one, and it is thought that H.S.M. has shown me especial condescension. In fact, I am told that I have been ‘the most favoured of Envoys that have ever come to the Sherifian presence.’

We returned by the same staircase and entrance: our horses had been brought near to the doorway; we mounted, and accompanied by the Mul Meshwa, visited the several gardens of the Sultan. There were few flowers but roses; these were in abundance and most sweet. Trellises of vines, groves of orange-trees, woods of pomegranate, olive, peach, pear, citron, lemon, palm, apple, plum, fig and other trees covered these vast cultivated wildernesses. Straight tápia walls enclosed these gardens and thousands of vines, from which the infant grapes were peeping, were trained against them on canes.

_April 13._ At twelve o’clock I had a conference with the Uzir Ben Dris at his private dwelling, a pretty Moorish house standing in the middle of a large garden, which is cultivated with far better taste, and shows a greater variety of flowers, than any of the Sultan’s gardens. His Excellency received me at the door and led me to a picturesque court with marble columns, mosaic pavements, and a bubbling fountain in the centre, with a view of orange-trees and roses to delight the eye on every side. A chair had been provided for me, and the Uzir sat on a low mattress, handsomely covered, and furnished with piles of luxurious cushions. Two little slaves were the only attendants present during our long conference. When a step was heard in the garden his Excellency seemed to be under some anxiety lest there should be any eavesdroppers. Coffee was brought in by one of the slaves, and was served in handsome china cups, placed on a bright brass tray inlaid with mosaic. His Excellency sipped from each cup that I partook of before handing it to me, to show that it was free from poison, for this Uzir has sometimes given a deadly feast to his guests, who, whilst partaking of ministerial hospitality, laid the seeds of some dread disease in the intestines which wore away their life in a few months or perhaps years.

Our conference lasted three hours. The Uzir told me he was merely

## acting as the ‘ear of the Sultan,’ and that he was desired to

report every word to His Majesty, who alone would decide upon every matter. In reply I said that, nevertheless, I should consider myself indebted to him if I could report favourably to our Government upon the Sultan’s replies, which was sufficient to let him understand what my sentiments would be vice versâ.

In the afternoon I rode out; starting from the same gate by which we had entered on a previous evening, and continuing our circuit round the town, it was an hour and a half before we reached the gate we started from on the first day, so Marákesh must be a good twelve miles in circumference.

The scenery of the distant Atlas mountains was very grand.

_April 14._ This morning, before I rose, a very beautiful bay horse arrived as a present from the Sultan, brought by the head groom of H.S.M.’s stables. He was covered with a handsome horsecloth, and is one of the finest animals I have seen in the country: standing a good fifteen hands and a half.

After our breakfast, came Hadj Gabári, the jester of the Uzir, with a note from his Excellency, of which this is a translation;—

Praise to the one God!

To the mediator of the two nations, Mr. J. H. D. Hay. May God exalt you!

The bearer is sent to amuse you. Let the painter that is with you see him and the various forms he can assume: he is a jester. Peace!

Finished 17th Rabea, 1262.

Hadj Gabári was a funny fellow, made all sorts of grimaces and a number of _bon mots_; had been in the East and spoke of Mehemet Ali; told us that, when in Egypt, he had been called upon to serve in the army, but got freed upon being told to march to see whether he would make a good soldier. He then showed us how he had walked, which was much like the gait of one of Astley’s clowns. Hadj Gabári meant this joke, I suspect, as a cut at the discipline of the Sultan’s troops. Escazena made a very good caricature of the jester, with one eye shut. I dispatched it to the Uzir, with a note to thank his Excellency for the amusement he had afforded, adding that I sent him back two jesters, with only three eyes between them.

I have been pointed out certain marks on my horse (turns of the hair) underneath his neck, which the Moors assure me are the best guarantee that the owner of the animal will never have any wish in life that he will not obtain. My horse has also been turning up one of his hoofs or resting his foot, as all horses do, and I am told that this is his ‘fatha’ or mode of prayer, and that he is praying God for his own and his master’s welfare.

_April 15._ Had another long interview with the Uzir. His Excellency has promised verbally, in the name of the Sultan, to give a favourable answer to each affair. We shall see how the letters run, for I have required that all be written—‘Quod scriptum est manet.’

The Sultan, it seems, is vastly pleased with the Queen’s gifts, especially the long gun barrels.

The Uzir asked many questions about India and our late victories there; about the war in China, our possessions there, &c., &c. I afforded him all the information he desired, and gave him some more distinct ideas than he had before of our power and wealth, compared with those of other nations, and let him understand (what few Moors do) that we can be powerful without being tyrannical or oppressive; that the weak and the strong nation are equally respected by us, if they keep to their treaty engagements and show no ill-will towards us. I finished by saying that the peace of the world was the greatest blessing to mankind when founded upon such principles, and that those nations with whom we had been at war in former times were now our good friends, whilst our old friends remained our best friends.

_April 16._ Another horse was brought me this morning as a present from the Sultan. He is not so handsome as the last, but a fine animal.

It has always been customary, on the occasion of a visit of a Consul-General to the Sultan, for His Majesty to give two horses: to give less would be ominous of the Consul or his nation being out of favour.

_April 17._ Saw from the roof of our dwelling the Sultan go to the great mosque, the Kutubía, at twelve o’clock. The new troops lined the road. A large body of unmounted irregular troops marched before His Majesty, who was immediately preceded by two lance-bearers. The Sultan was dressed in white, as on the day of my reception, and mounted on a white horse. A man on foot held a large red silk umbrella, with a gilt ball on the top and a long pole for a stick, over the ‘Exalted Presence.’

Some thirty attendants, all dressed in white except for their red caps, surrounded the person of the Sultan, from whom, with white handkerchiefs, they kept off the flies. The regular troops presented arms, and the drums beat as His Majesty passed, whilst the female spectators screamed the ‘zagharit,’ or shout of joy.

_April 18._ Up before daylight. At seven o’clock the Sultan sent for me, and mounted on the Sherifian gift, I rode with a train of soldiers to the Ghásats E’Nil, or the Garden of the Nile, where it was arranged the audience should take place. The Mul Meshwa met me at the palace gate with his attendants, and I was conducted into a court some two hundred yards square, at the end of which, near the doorway of the palace, sat the ‘Exalted Presence’ on a raised platform in the open air. His Majesty was seated at first on a divan, but whilst I approached with measured steps, the divan was exchanged for a chair. Ben Dris was standing near. After various bows I came within some few paces of H.S.M. and then halted, when the Sultan said, ‘We have been glad to become acquainted with you; we had very friendly feelings towards your father, and have now the same towards you. Our minister has reported to us all you have represented, and we see that you are a prudent person and desirous of serving faithfully the interests of the two countries.’

I thanked His Majesty for such flattering sentiments, and expressed also my grateful acknowledgements for the readiness with which he had given ear and consented to the settlement of the various affairs that had been brought under his notice by the Uzir; but at the same time I urgently begged that he would keep in mind those affairs relating to commerce, upon which depended most important interests, as also the welfare of a large class of His Majesty’s subjects and those of my gracious Sovereign.

The Sultan replied that he should bear them in mind, but that he required time to consider the matter.

I then took leave, and H.S.M. commanded that I should be taken into the interior of the court and garden where his harem resided—a special favour which, the Sultan added, had been granted to my father, and therefore ‘the son should have the same privilege.’ Accompanied by two eunuchs, for I was now to be admitted within the prison cage of many a wild and lovely woman, we passed under a lofty archway, in which were two small carriages like bath-chairs, and entered the garden; like the rest in Marákesh, full of oranges, roses, and fruit-trees, adorned with fountains and wide walks. As we passed along the avenues I saw the spectre of a female vanish at our approach, and, as far as I dared indulge my curiosity, she was as pale and pretty as the negresses that accompanied her were sooty and hideous. The fair Sultana’s dress was white, and I confess I hardly observed how it was made, as I strained my vision to see her face rather than her form. At the windows, or small loop-holes of the palace, I could hear _en passant_ whispers, and saw visions of tips of fingers, both white and black, and brilliant eyes darting fiery looks.

I came back by the way I had entered. The Sultan had retired. Ben Dris was still there, and we settled all remaining matters.

On April 18 Mr. Hay left Marákesh. On the 19th he writes:—While resting to-day, one of my Bokhári guards gave me a history of the origin of their becoming the body-guard of the Moorish Sultan, which legend I introduce as follows.

Mulai Ismael, who reigned some two hundred years ago, was one of the most powerful but vainglorious of the Moorish potentates who have been shadowed by the Sherifian umbrella. Desirous of extending his dominions, and in consequence of the black Kings of Sudan, Timbuktu, &c., not having sent him the customary annual present for some years, he determined to march into the desert and subdue the petty princes of the interior, who reigned over districts contiguous to his dominions.

Having prepared an army of ten thousand men he marched towards Timbuktu.

The Bokhári Kaid here described the sufferings and loss the army was said to have experienced on traversing the desert.

On approaching Timbuktu Mulai Ismael learnt to his dismay that the Sultan of Sudan had surrounded him with a force tenfold his own, and that in a few hours he might expect to be overwhelmed; upon which H.M. wept, and sent for his Uzir, who, being a cunning and wise man, said, ‘Weep not, O mighty One! Grant that I go as Ambassador to the Sultan of Sudan. Give me full powers to act as I think best, and I will guarantee that your Majesty shall retire hence with all honour and without losing a man.’

The Sultan then issued his Royal firman to the Uzir to act as he deemed right for the good of Islam; so the wily Uzir, taking presents with him and a flag of peace, set out for the camp of the Sultan of Sudan, by whom he was received with much pomp and magnificence, and to whom he thus declared the object of his mission:—

‘Sultan of Sultans, King of the black race, my master the Sultan of Fas and Marákesh, &c., &c., sends you greeting and gifts. He has come to these distant parts with all his followers, having heard of your fame and power; and is desirous of allying himself to you by demanding the hand in marriage of your Majesty’s daughter, whose beauty the Moorish poets and songsters daily extol. Therefore, O Mighty Prince, our Lord and Master doth homage to your most sable and queenly daughter, and hath brought the chiefs of his kingdom and his troops to show her and you that he is worthy of such a Royal prize.’

The black Sultan, who had been wroth with Mulai Ismael for his apparently hostile and daring intrusion into his kingdom, now smiled with joy at the flattering proposition made through the Uzir in the name of the descendant of the Prophet, the ‘Prince of the Faithful.’

The demand was acceded to. The sable daughter of the Sultan of Sudan was betrothed to Mulai Ismael. Rich presents in gold and silver, and ten thousand black warriors, as a dowry, were presented to the Sultan of Morocco to wait upon the dark bride. These troops and their descendants have ever since formed the most faithful guards of his Majesty the Sultan of Morocco.

This same Sultan, Mulai Ismael, after a revolt of his troops, it is said, formed a body of some twenty thousand Jews as regular cavalry, thinking that though they had not the courage of Mussulmans, he would find them more faithful subjects.

Shortly after they had been trained in the art of war, His Majesty ordered his Jewish troops to march against some rebels near the town of Fas. The Jews, who were tired of soldiers’ fare and the hardships of the life, bethought them how best to be freed from such misery. A learned Rabbi and General of the troops, after some reflection, undertook to obtain this freedom; so the very day they were to march from Fas, he waited on the Sultan and said, that though he and his brethren were all ready and eager for battle and to fight in H.M.’s cause, they begged their Lord the Sultan would send a few of his guards with the army to prevent the Moorish boys insulting them; ‘for our Lord the Sultan knows,’ said the wily Rabbi, ‘that a Jew cannot strike a Moslem.’

Mulai Ismael disbanded _instanter_ the Israelitish army.

_April 20._ Pursuing our course for some seven or eight miles over an arid plain famous for fattening sheep, though the blades of parched grass in an acre might, I think, have been counted, we reached, about seven o’clock, a fountain called Ain-Umast (Ain means eye or spring), near which were the remains of a large Moorish town. From this fountain we ascended into a hilly country covered with the argan tree[14], from the fruit of which the argan oil is extracted; the leaves of this tree are of a fine deep green, the fruit is rather larger than an olive and pointed at one end. The trees run from thirty to forty feet high, and their lower branches extend frequently to about the same length.

The trees were laden with fruit. Like the palms near Marákesh, every tree has its owner, though there appears to be a forest many miles in extent. The fruit is ripe in autumn, and the harvest is collected by threshing the trees. The fruit is then carried to magazines, and camels and cattle fed upon it. They eat stone and all, but afterwards void the stone whole, which is again collected and taken to the mill, where it is crushed and the oil extracted. This is preferred by the Moors to olive oil for cookery.

The commencement of the hilly ground has brought us into the district of Shedma and into the northern part of Sus, one of the great divisions of Morocco. The Sus people, like the Shloh and the Rifians, are aborigines: they are a fine race, small limbed, but tall and active. Here the place of the tent is taken by mud castles or walled enclosures, within which they build their huts or small stone houses. As we travelled on, though the sun was high in the heavens, the air got cooler, and I fancied I could sniff the breeze from the sea. The country improved as we advanced: corn-fields amidst the argan trees. Here and there orchards of fig, grape, and other fruit-trees, olive in abundance.

_April 21._ We were off at daybreak, and rode for two hours through a forest of argan and wild olives. We then entered a barren waste, covered with steep sandhills, which drift like snow with the wind, so as to render it impossible, after a gale, to find a vestige or track of former passengers. These hills are from forty to eighty feet high, almost perpendicular in the ascent and descent, and extend some three or four miles from the coast.

The picturesque town of Mogador, or Suiera, presented itself as we reached the summit of these hills; it lies in a flat sandy plain and the sea washes its walls on the southern and western sides. In winter the sea floods the plain, leaving Mogador as it were an island, except for a causeway over an aqueduct, raised some feet from the ground. On our approach to the town, the batteries saluted me with eleven guns, which was responded to by Her Majesty’s steamer Meteor. The Governor and all the authorities came out to meet us, with two hundred cavalry and three or four hundred infantry; all the accustomed honours and parade were gone through.

Mogador is the European name given to the town of Suiera from a saint’s tomb on an island, about half-a-mile from shore, called Sid Mogdul. The island is fortified, and forms a shelter for shipping from the west and north winds. Mogador was built in the last century, 1760 I think, by Sultan Mohammed Ben Abdallah. An immense sum of money was laid out, as the Sultan built all the merchants’ houses, as well as the walls of the town and many fine Government buildings. It was called by him Suiera, or the picture, from its regularity and handsome appearance when compared with the generality of other Moorish towns. The houses are fine buildings, some of them three stories high; the streets broad and straight. The two main streets run through the town at right angles, so that you can see out of each gate of the town at the same time. There are many solid, neat archways dividing the different quarters of the town.

The walls, batteries, mosques, and public stores are solid and handsome, but partaking rather of the European than Moorish style of architecture, therefore much less interesting to a European eye.

Sultan Mohammed built the town as an emporium for trade with the interior, which it afterwards became; and several firms of British merchants of some wealth had been established here till the bombardment of the place by the French, when they escaped. Owing to the debts due by these persons to the Moorish Government and the loss of property they experienced by the plunder of the town by the wild tribes, they have not returned either to claim their property or to liquidate their debts. At the earnest request of the Governor, I passed the night at this place.

Embarking on board the Meteor on April 22, Mr. Hay reached Tangier on the 24th.

In a letter, written on this expedition to his friend the Hon. A. Gordon, Mr. Hay gives some interesting notes on the habits of the Moors. He says:—

My friend N. was right when he said the Moors do not smoke. The Moors are perhaps the most fanatical of the Mohammedan sect, and much stricter in observance of the laws of their prophet than their brethren in the East. Smoking is looked upon as a sin; for smoking is supposed by them to produce intoxication—or at least a slight aberration of the senses—and can therefore be placed in the same category as wine, which was forbidden by Mohammed solely on that account.

A Mohammedan sage was once asked what was the greatest sin a man could commit. He replied—‘To get drunk,’ and told the following parable: ‘A certain man of good repute drank large potations of the juice of the grape until he became intoxicated and lost his senses. When in that state, _he lied, he stole, he committed adultery and murder_; none of which sins would he have been capable of committing had he not sinned against the Koran by drinking wine.’ The Moor, however, when he does drink wine, drinks to get drunk, and when he smokes he uses a herb called ‘kif,’ a species of hemp, which produces much the same effect on the senses as opium.

Here and there you find a Tangerine with a cigar in his mouth; but then you may be sure he is a worthless fellow and has learnt the vice from the ‘Nazarenes.’ Tobacco is much used in the form of snuff, and the snuff of the town of Tetuan is deservedly famed for its pungent flavour.

‘Ahel tanbakko lil Jinnats yasbakko’ is a Moorish doggerel couplet meaning, ‘Snuff-takers enter heaven first.’ This may be said to reconcile many a snuff-taker to his box of vice, whereas those who do not so indulge take the proverb in another sense as inferring that the snuff-takers have a short life.

The Moor takes his snuff as we Highlanders do; not in a pinch, but by laying it along the hollow of the back of his thumb. Very small cocoa-nut shells, having a narrow ivory mouth-piece, form the usual style of box, to which is attached by a small chain an ivory pin to stir up the snuff, which is jerked through the orifice. But I am growing tiresome, and though snuff may keep the attention awake, it will not do so, I fear, when taken in this manner and in so plentiful a dose.

You ask about the Jews in this country; much may be said, and I will endeavour in subsequent letters to tell you all I know. They are a sadly degraded race, full of bigotry and superstition, but retaining their activity, cunning, and love for each other, together with an extraordinary firmness in their belief—for which, indeed, these persecuted people have been always famed in every clime.

The Jew of Morocco, next to the Negro in the West Indies and America, is the most persecuted and degraded of God’s creatures. In Tangier and the seaport towns, through the Christian Representatives, the Jews have ever received a certain indirect countenance and support, but in the interior their fate is a very hard one.

The subject of the Jews in Morocco was one that greatly interested Mr. Hay. In subsequent notes and letters, as the following extracts show, he redeemed his promise to Mr. Gordon. Thus he writes:—

With respect to the Jews, I have knowledge of there being a population of about four or five thousand in the Atlas mountains beyond the city of Marákesh, and they are said to have lived there ever since the time of Solomon.

These Jews are armed, but are not independent; each Jewish family having its Moorish master, or protector. In the feuds of the Moors in the mountainous regions they take part and, by their active and warlike life, acquire a far more independent spirit than their brethren of the seaport towns and of the capitals. There is some tradition about their Rabbis possessing a document containing the signet of Joab, who was sent to collect tribute from them in the time of the son of David.

In 1844 there still existed an ancient inscription in Hebrew graven on a stone in the Dra country, which was said to be as follows: עד כאן הגיץ יואב בן צרויה לקבל המס which is interpreted thus, ‘So far as this place came Joab Ben (son of) Serruia to receive the tribute.’

Joab, chief of the army of King David, is called in the recognised translation of the Bible ‘the son of Zeruiah.’

A drunken Rabbi, named Judah Azalia, called on me the other day; he has been travelling for three years in the southern districts of Morocco, and he visited also many of the towns and villages bordering on the Great Desert beyond Dra, which province you will find marked in the map. Judah was half intoxicated, as usual, when he visited me, and he left Tangier before I could entrap him in a sober moment. Judah had travelled much in the East, had read a number of curious old books, and was full of traditions he had picked up in the interior of this country; but all he told me was in such a jumbled state that I could not retain it, but requested the learned and drunken Rabbi to commit to paper the subject-matter of our conversation.

I send you a translation of the Hebrew original.

From the _preface_ you will expect much; but, alas! there is only the phantom of a skeleton, whose doubtful apparition leaves us big with fancies and uncertainty. The man knows nothing of geography or history, except the Bible.

You will be struck with the tradition of the Jews of the interior respecting the tribe of Naphtali, the tombs, &c. I regret he has curtailed greatly his verbal statements; for, amongst other curious matter, he told me of a burial-ground of the Jews in the interior—some mile or mile and a half in circumference.

The story about the Israelite warriors is curious, but the staining of the hair before battle looks more like the Goths.

Judah supposes that Wadan is much nearer the Red Sea than it really is; but if the Naphtali tribes fled from captivity, through Central Africa, towards Dra and the South of Morocco, one of the first towns or villages at which they would have found means of subsistence, would have been Wadden or Yaden.

The names of the places and towns are so different from those given in our maps, as indeed they always appear to be when mentioned by natives of the interior, that I can hardly recognise them, and have no time just now to refer to my maps of Africa.

Judah has promised to send me a further memorandum, but the fumes of ‘agua ardiente’ will, I fear, stifle all recollection of his promise.

TRANSLATION FROM THE HEBREW.

I am about to give a description respecting my brethren of Israel, who, through captivity, are now dwelling in Western Barbary, and to tell—as far as my knowledge permits—of their state, their mode of living and genealogy; being in conformity with what has been related to me by wise old men and persons of integrity and good faith, incapable of stating an untruth. I will further relate what I have personally witnessed during the travels of my youth, as also the information I have obtained from ancient and exact tradition, both in manuscript and in print.

It is well known that when Sennacherib (? Shalmaneser[15]), king of Assyria, conquered the people of Israel, these (the Israelites), were led into captivity to Lahleh (? Halah) and Habor. Thence all the Israelite tribe of Naphtali, or the greater portion thereof, sought refuge in Vaden, a town situated on the limits of Guinea (meaning Central Africa), which town had at that time direct communication with Lahleh and Habor. From Vaden they (the Israelites) were scattered to Daha[16], Tafilelt, and Vakka[17] which are situated on the confines of the Province of Daha towards Ofran, according to the writings of the pious Rabbi, Jakob Benisargan, who places Vakka upon the borders of the river of Daha. Thus were the Israelites spread throughout the interior of Africa.

In Vaden there is a large burial ground of Jews, whose sepulchres are covered with slabs of stone bearing very intelligible epitaphs. In Vaden there is a synagogue where fragments of the Pentateuch and of the Prophets, written on parchment, are to be found.

In Ofran is to be seen a carved stone with a Hebrew inscription which has existed since the destruction of the first temple. In the burial ground there are several tombstones bearing epitaphs, of which the genealogy is written in the Hebrew character but in the Arabic tongue: some of these are dated three hundred years ago, others go as far back as twelve hundred years.

From Ofran you journey to Eleg[18], where there exists a large congregation of Jews; exactly as is related by the famous and illustrious Rabbi, Izak Barseset. In Ofran there stands a building which it is supposed was erected by one of the ancient kings of Western Barbary. It is constructed with large hewn square stones. There are also ruins of buildings which are supposed to be Roman.

Then comes the town of Telin, and later that of Thala, where there exists even at the present time an immense stone, and at its foot is a pool of water. The old people of the place tell you of a tradition that upon this stone the Israelite warriors prepared a dye of ‘henna[19]’, with which they dyed their hair before going to battle. They relate that the number of the said warriors amounted to four hundred thousand cavalry. It is said that on one occasion the enemies of these warriors treacherously came to offer peace upon any conditions that might be imposed. The peace having been concluded on the sacred day of Kipur[20], all the Israelites were unarmed, but the enemy had hidden their own arms in the sand.

The Israelites, glad to profit by so advantageous a peace—and not suspecting any treachery—approached the hostile army, perceiving also that they had no arms, when suddenly a preconcerted signal was given, and the latter, rushing upon the Israelites, cut them to pieces. One slave alone survived this most fatal misfortune, and he buried the bodies of the slain. On account of their number he put ten bodies into each grave, but for the last grave there were only nine bodies, so the slave—overwhelmed with grief and sorrow—threw himself into the grave to complete the ten. Even to the present time this spot is called ‘The sepulchre of the ten.’

At a little distance from Eleg, there is a celebrated fountain called Ras-el-Ain (the source of the spring), so called because there is a spring of water at forty fathoms below the surface. The fountain can be followed three days’ journey irrigating the olive, fig, pomegranate, almond, and palm trees, and the land is also thereby watered for the cultivation of grain and vegetables.

The following towns or villages are to be noted as having Hebrews among the population: Zaachian, Lasakia, Takulebat, Torribat, Bardlaiimi, and Taheret[21]. This last-mentioned town is noted for being the birthplace of many learned Jews and Rabbis in very ancient times. The most celebrated and illustrious Rabbi, Judah El Hayugni, was born at Taheret. He it was who founded the grammar of our sacred language.

Beyond Taheret is the town of Lasats, which has a large Jewish population. In it there are gardens and fruit trees, which are cultivated with great success.

The best limes in Barbary are grown here, and are used in the religious ceremonies of the Jews throughout Morocco.

Mulai Hashem, a native of Tafilelt, tells me that the Jews are very numerous in his country. He says there are two races of Jews among them, one race has been in Tafilelt since eight years previous to the Hegira of Mohammed, the other having been brought in by a chief named Mulai Ali, the son of Mulai Hassan.

Mulai Ali, says my informant, had purchased these Jews from some distant country of the East—where he found them in great distress—and he gave fifty pieces of money for each: what money he does not know.

Mulai Hashem says that these two races are thus distinguished. The older race have the whole head shaved. The colony brought by Mulai Ali leave a small segment of a circle unshaved on the top of the forehead. These latter also wear a black cap, somewhat pointed at the top, where it is made to curl down on one side of the face.

The Jewesses are not dressed like those that live in Tangier, but in the costume of the Moorish woman, and wear rich dresses with jewels. They are however to be distinguished from the Moorish woman by the arrangement of their hair, which the latter draw backwards from either side of the forehead over the temples to the back of the head; whereas the Jewesses (unmarried) twist their hair in circles on the top of the head. The married Jewesses are not allowed by the law to show their hair. This law, by the way, is not from the Bible, but is an invention of the Rabbis.

The Jews, said Mulai Hashem, are well treated in Tafilelt, whilst they behave well and according to the rules laid down for them; which, by the specimen of one that he gave, appear sufficiently humiliating—viz. that should a Jew pass or be passed by a Sheríf, he, the Jew, must take off his shoes; or, if mounted, must dismount, unless specially absolved by the Sheríf.

He tells me that they exercise all the crafts which are practised in the country, except tilling the soil. It appears that the Jews themselves seldom, if ever, accompany the ‘kafilas’ (caravans), but, he says, they have commercial dealings with the Sudan country.

It would appear that the Tafilelt Jews are much at their ease, if one may judge from the joking adage—according to Mulai Hashem common in Tafilelt—that ‘forty Mohammedans work for one Jew.’ Mulai Hashem said that the Filali Jews, or Jews of Tafilelt, speak the Shloh tongue as well as the Arabic, and whenever they wish to say what they would not have known to Moors or others they speak in Hebrew.

A learned Jew of this country tells me that all Arabs and Moors whose names are composed with Ben are of an Israelitish origin.

Mulai Hashem tells me that the following oath is administered in his country to the Jews, and that they will rather give back anything they may have come by unjustly than take so grave an oath:—

‘By God, there is no other God but He, the Eternal and Just—who uttered His word upon the mighty hill—and by the truth of the existence of the two palm-trees which meet together over the river _Sebts_, and by the Book of Moses—peace be upon him—and by the Ten Commandments delivered unto Moses, and by all that is contained in his Book, the _Gadi_, God forbid that I should add or diminish in this affair, else may God destroy my memory, and may the name of my family be never mentioned in the world.’

_Sebts_ is the Arabic for Sabbath, and is here applied to the fabled river called by the Jews Sabbatyon.

It is not clear what is meant by _Gadi_.

A Jewish Rabbi, named Benshiten, tells me that two and a half tribes of Israel are the portion which make up the number of Jews that are found in Europe and Africa—and the remaining nine and a half are found to exist on the East of a river which is named Sabbatyon, and is said to be to the East of Mecca. This river, said he, has the peculiarity of the stones in its bed fighting with each other all the week excepting the Sabbath, on which day Hebrews cannot travel; so that the nine and a half tribes cannot communicate with their separated brethren.

Mr. Hay, it may be added, was the first to break through some of the despotic rules imposed by the Moors on the Jews. On his arrival at Tangier in 1844 the Hebrew interpreters attached to the different Consulates were obliged to remove—as did their brethren—their slippers on passing a mosque or other sanctuary. When he paid his visit of ceremony to the Basha, on succeeding his father as Consul-General and Political Agent, Mr. Hay went, according to the custom of those days, in full uniform. He was accompanied by his staff, of which one member—the Interpreter, Mr. David Sicsu—was a Jew, a shrewd and able man, who had been attached for some years to the British Consulate. On their way to the Basha’s residence they passed the great mosque. Mr. Hay noticed that Sicsu stopped and took off his shoes; so turning, he called out to him in a loud voice, that all might hear, ‘What are you doing? Put on your shoes. Remember you are an English employé and, as such, have all the privileges of British subjects. If ever you do that again, I shall dismiss you.’

Also, on his first visit to the Sultan’s Court, in 1846, Mr. Hay insisted on his Jewish interpreters being allowed to ride about the capital on mule-back, and to enjoy the same rights and privileges as granted to other members of his staff.

It is only within the last thirty years that Jews in Morocco—not foreign employés or protected subjects—have been allowed to assume the European dress, or to wear yellow slippers or red caps when in native costume. Formerly they were compelled to confine themselves to black slippers and caps and the Jewish gaberdine.

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