CHAPTER III

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_Description of the different Provinces, their Soil, Culture, and Produce._

In describing the soil and produce of this extensive empire, we will proceed through the various provinces, beginning with the northern, called

ERREEF, or RIF.

This province extending along the shore of the Mediterranean sea, produces corn and cattle in abundance; that part of it contiguous to Tetuan produces the most delicious oranges in the world; also figs, grapes, melons, apricots, plums, strawberries, apples, pears, pomgranates, citrons, lemons, limes, and the refreshing fruit of the opuntia, or prickly pear, called by the Arabs (Kermuse Ensarrah) Christian fig. This fruit was probably first brought into the country from the Canary Islands, as it abounds in Suse, and is called by the Shelluhs of South Atlas, (Takanarite) the Canary fruit. A ridge of mountains passes from Tangier, along this province to the eastward, as far as Bona, in Algiers; these mountains are called Jibbel Erreef by the natives, and the Lesser Atlas by Europeans.

EL GARB.

The next province is called El Garb[25] (g guttural.) It is of the same nature with that already described; from the port of El Araiche, eastward, as far as the foot of Atlas, is a fine champaign country, extremely abundant in wheat and barley: here are the extensive plains of Emsharrah Rumellah, famous for the camp of Muley Ismael, great grandfather of the present Emperor Soliman, where he retained his army of Bukarrie Blacks to the amount of one hundred thousand horse. This army possessed the finest horses in the empire. The remains of the habitations are still discernible. There is a forest eastward of El Araiche of considerable extent, consisting chiefly of oak, with some cork, and other valuable large trees; more to the southward and eastward, we discover a forest of cork only, the trees of which are as large as full grown oaks. From Mequinas to Muley Idris Zerone, the renowned sanctuary at the foot of Atlas, east of the city of Mequinas, the country is flat, with gentle hills occasionally, and inhabited by the tribe of Ait Imure, a Kabyle which dwells in straggling tents, and a warlike tribe of Berebbers. The Emperor Seedy Mohammed, father to the reigning Emperor Soliman, used to denominate the Ait Imure the English of Barbary.[26]

THE DISTRICT OF FAS, AND PROVINCE OF BENIHASSEN.

The country between Fas and Mequinas, and from thence to Salée, is of the same description as the foregoing; a rich champaign, abounding prodigiously in corn, and inhabited altogether by Arabs, with the exception, however, of the Zimur’h Shelluh, another Kabyle of Berebbers. In short, the whole northern[27] division of this empire is an uninterrupted corn field; a rich black, and sometimes red soil, without stones or clay, with scarcely any wood upon it (the forests before mentioned, and the olive plantations and gardens about the cities of Fas and Mequinas excepted), but incalculably productive. The inhabitants do not use dung, but reap the corn high from the ground, and burn the stubble, the ashes of which serve as manure. During this period of the year, viz. August, enormous clouds of smoke are seen mounting the declivities of hills and mountains, penetrating without resistance the woods, and leaving nothing behind but black ashes and cinders: these fires heat the atmosphere considerably, as they continue burning during two months. In sowing, the husbandmen throw the grain on the ground, and afterwards plough it in. Oats they make no use of: beans, peas, caravances, and Indian corn, are cultivated occasionally in lands adjacent to rivers: the fruits are similar to those before described, and are in great abundance, oranges being sold at a ducket or a dollar a thousand, at Tetuan, Salée, and some other places; grapes, melons, and figs of various kinds, and other fruits, are proportionally abundant. Cotton of a superior quality is grown in the environs of Salée and Rabat, also hemp. The tobacco called Mequinasi, so much esteemed for making snuff, is the produce of the province of Benihassen, as well as the country adjacent to the city of Mequinas.

PROVINCES OF TEMSENA, SHAWIA, DUQUELLA, ABDA, SHEDMA; AND THE DISTRICT OF MAROCCO.

These are most productive in corn; the crop of one year would be sufficient for the consumption of the whole empire, provided all the ground capable of producing wheat and barley were to be sown. These fine provinces abound in horses and horned cattle; their flocks are numerous, and the horses of Abda are of the most select breed in the country. The cavalry of Temsena is the best appointed of the empire, excepting the black troops of the Emperor, called Abeed Seedy Bukarrie.

Two falls of rain in Abda are sufficient to bring to maturity a good crop of wheat; nor does the soil require more. The water-melons of Duquella are of a prodigious size, and indeed everything thrives in this prolific province: horses, horned cattle, the flocks, nay even the dogs and cats, all appear in good condition. The inhabitants are, for the most part, a laborious and trading people, and great speculators: they grow tobacco for the markets of Soudan and Timbuctoo. Nearly midway between Saffee and Marocco is a large salt lake, from which many camels are daily loaded with salt for the interior.

The province of Shedma produces wheat and barley; its fruits are not so rich as those of the north, or of Suse; it abounds however in cattle. Of goats it furnishes annually an incalculable number, the skins of which form a principal article of exportation from the port of Mogodor; and such is the animosity and opposition often among the merchants there, that they have sometimes given as much for the skin, as the animal itself was sold for. Honey, wax, and tobacco are produced in this province, the two former in great abundance; also gum arabic, called by the Arabs Alk Tolh, but of an inferior quality to that of the Marocco district.

PROVINCE OF HAHA.

Haha is a country of great extent, interspersed with mountains and valleys, hills and dales, and inhabited by twelve Kabyles of Shelluhs. This is the first province, from the shores of the Mediterranean, in which villages and walled habitations are met with, scattered through the country; the before mentioned provinces (with the exception of the sea-port towns and the cities of Fas, Mequinas, Marocco, and Muley Idris Zerone) being altogether inhabited by Arabs living in tents. The houses of Haha are built of stone, each having a tower, and are erected on elevated situations, forming a pleasing view to the traveller. Here we find forests of the argan tree, which produces olives, from the kernel of which the Shelluhs express an oil,[28] much superior to butter for frying fish; it is also employed economically for lamps, a pint of it burning nearly as long as double the quantity of olive or sallad oil. Wax, gum-sandrac and arabic, almonds, bitter and sweet, and oil of olives, are the productions of this picturesque province, besides grapes, water-melons, citrons, pomgranates, oranges, lemons, limes, pears, apricots, and other fruits. Barley is more abundant than wheat. The Shelluhs of Haha are physiognomically distinguishable (by a person who has resided any time among them) from the Arabs of the plains, from the Moors of the towns, and from the Berebbers of North Atlas, and even from the Shelluhs of Suse, though in their language, manners, and mode of living they resemble the latter. The mountains of Haha produce the famous wood called Arar, which is proof against rot or the worm. Some beams of this wood taken down from the roof of my dwelling-house at Agadeer, which had been up fifty years, were found perfectly sound, and free from decay.

PROVINCE OF SUSE.

We now come to Suse, the most extensive, and, excepting grain, the richest province of the empire. The olive, the almond, the date, the orange, the grape, and all the other fruits produced in the northern provinces abound here, particularly about the city of Terodant (the capital of Suse, formerly a kingdom), Ras-el-Wed, and in the mountains of Edautenan.[29] The grapes of Edautenan are exquisitely rich. Indigo grows wild in all the low lands, and is of a vivid blue; but the natives do not perfectly understand the preparation of it for the purpose of dying.

Suse contains many warlike tribes, among which are Howara, Woled Abbusebah, and Ait Bamaran; these are Arabs;— Shtuka, Elala, Edaultit, Ait Atter, Kitiwa, Msegina, and Idautenan, who are Shelluhs.

There is not, perhaps, a finer climate in the world than that of Suse, generally, if we except the disagreable season of the hot winds. It is said, however, and it is a phenomenon, that at Akka rain never falls; it is extremely hot there in the months of June, July, and August; about the beginning of September the (Shume) hot wind from Sahara blows with violence during three, seven, fourteen, or twenty-one days.[30] One year, however, whilst I resided at (Agadeer) Santa Cruz, it blew twenty-eight days; but this was an extraordinary instance.[31] The heat is so extreme during the prevalence of the Shume, that it is not possible to walk out; the ground burns the feet; and the terraced roofs of the houses are frequently peeled off by the parching heat of the wind, which resembles that which proceeds from the mouth of an oven: at this time clothes are oppressive. These violent winds introduce the rainy season.

The (Lukseb) sugar-cane grows spontaneously about Terodant. Cotton, indigo, gum, and various kinds of medicinal herbs are produced here. The stick liquorice is so abundant that it is called (Ark Suse) the root of Suse. The olive plantations in different parts of Suse are extensive, and extremely productive; about Ras-el-Wed and Terodant a traveller may proceed two days through these plantations, which form an uninterrupted shade impenetrable to the rays of the sun; the same may be said of the plantations of the almond, which also abound in this province. Of corn they sow sufficient only for their own annual consumption; and although the whole country might be made one continued vineyard, yet they plant but few vines; for wine being prohibited, they require no more grapes than they can consume themselves, or dispose of in the natural state. The Jews, however, make a little wine and brandy from the grape, as well as from the raisin. The date, which here begins to produce a luxurious fruit, is found in perfection on the confines of the Desert in Lower Suse. At Akka and Tatta the palm or date-tree is very small, but extremely productive; and although the fruit be not made an article of trade, as at Tafilelt, it is exquisitely flavoured, and possesses various qualities. The most esteemed kind of date is the Butube, the next is the Buskrie.

Suse produces more almonds and oil of olives than all the other provinces collectively. (Gum Amarad) a red gum partaking of the intermediate quality between the (tolh gum) gum arabic and the Aurwar, or Alk Soudan Senegal gum, is first found in this province. Wax is produced in great abundance; also gum euphorbium, gum sandrac, wild thyme, worm-seed, orriss root, orchillo weed, and coloquinth. Antimony, salt-petre of a superior quality, copper, and silver, are found here; the two latter in abundance about Elala, and in Shtuka.

DRAHA AND TAFILELT.

Draha and Tafilelt produce a superior breed of goats, and a great abundance of dates: the countries situated near the banks of the rivers of Draha and Tafilelt have several plantations of Indian corn, rice, and indigo. There are upwards of thirty sorts of dates in this part of Bled-el-jerrêde;[32] the best and most esteemed is that called Butube, which is seldom brought to Europe, as it will not keep so long as the Admoh date, the kind imported into England, but considered by the natives of Tafilelt so inferior, that it is given only to the cattle; it is of a very indigestive quality: when a Filelly[33] Arab has eaten too many dates, and finds them oppressive, he has recourse to dried fish, which, it is said, counteracts their ill effects. This fruit forms the principal food of the inhabitants of Bled-el-jerrêde, of which Tafilelt is a part; the produce of one plantation near the imperial palace[34] at Tafilelt sold some few years past for five thousand dollars, although they are so abundant there that a camel load, or three quintals, is sold for two dollars. The face of the country from the Ruins of Pharoah to the palace of Tafilelt is as follows:

Tafilelt is eight (erhellat[35] de lowd) days journey on horseback from the Ruins of Pharoah; proceeding eastward from these ruins, the traveller immediately ascends the lofty Atlas, and on the third day, about sun-set, reaches the plains on the other side; the remaining five days journey is through a wide extended plain totally destitute of vegetation, and on which rain never falls; the soil is a whitish clay, impregnated with salt, which when moistened resembles soap. A river, which rises in the Atlas, passes through this vast plain from the south-west to the north-east; at Tafilelt it is described to be as wide as the Morbeya at Azamor in West Barbary, that is, about the width of the Thames at Putney; the water of this river receives a brackish taste, by passing through the saline plains: after running a course of fifteen erhellat,[36] or four hundred and fifty miles, it is absorbed in the desert of Angad. It has several (l’uksebbat) castles of terrace wall on its banks, inhabited by the (Sherreefs) princes of the reigning family of Marocco. Latterly wheat and barley have been cultivated near the river and the castles. The food of the inhabitants, who are Arabs, consists, for the most part (as already observed), in dates; their principal meal is after sun-set, the heat being so intolerable as not to suffer them to eat any thing substantial while the sun is above the horizon.

There is another river, inferior to the one before mentioned, which rises in the plains north of Tafilelt, and flowing in a southerly direction, is absorbed in the great desert, of Sahara: the water of this river is so very brackish, as to be unfit for culinary purposes; it is of a colour similar to chalk and water, but if left to stand in a vessel during the night it becomes clear by the morning, though it is still too salt to drink. These extensive plains abound every where in water, which is found at the depth of two cubits,[37] but so brackish as to be palatable only to those who have been long accustomed to the use of it.

The people have among themselves a strict sense of honour; a robbery has scarcely been known in the memory of the oldest man, though they use no locks or bars. Commercial transactions being for the most part in the way of barter or exchange, they need but little specie: gold dust is the circulating medium in all transactions of magnitude. They live in the simple patriarchal manner of the Arabs, differing from them only in having walled habitations, which are invariably near the river.

It is intensely hot here, during a great part of the year, the (Shume) wind from Sahara blowing tempestuously in July, August, and September, carrying with it particles of earth and sand, which are very pernicious to the eyes, and produce ophthalmia.

A considerable trade is carried on from this place to Timbuctoo, Houssa, and Jinnie, south of Sahara, and to Marocco, Fas, Suse, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Indigo abounds here, but from the indolence of the cultivators it is of an inferior quality. There are mines of antimony and lead ore: the Elkahol Filelly,[38] so much used by the Arabs and African women to give a softness to the eyes, and to blacken the eye-brows, is the produce of this country. The common dress of the inhabitants consists of a loose shirt of blue cotton, with a shawl or belt round the waist.

An Akkabah, or accumulated caravan, goes annually from hence to Timbuctoo.

Woollen hayks[39] for garments are manufactured here of a curious texture, extremely light and fine, called El Haik Filelly.

If we except the habitations and castles near the river, the population of the plains is very inconsiderable: a few tents of the Arabs whose original stock inhabit Sahara, are occasionally discovered, which serve to break the uniformity of the unvaried horizon. A person who imagines a vast plain, bounded by an even horizon, similar to the sea out of sight of land, will have an accurate idea of this country.

The goats of Tafilelt are uncommonly large: there is a breed of them preserved by the Emperor of Marocco on the island of Mogodor.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 25: This is the westernmost province of Marocco northward, as its name denotes, El Garb signifying the West. There is a tradition among the Arabians, that it was originally united to Trafalgar and Gibraltar, shutting up the Mediterranean sea, the waters from which passed into the western ocean by a subterraneous passage; and at this day they call Trafalgar _Traf-el-garb_, i.e. the piece or part of El Garb; and Gibraltar _Jibbel-traf_, i.e. the mountain of the piece, or part of El Garb.]

[Footnote 26: The ignorance of the Mohammedans in geography, added to their vanity, induces them to imagine that the empire of Marocco is nearly as large as all Europe, and they accordingly ascribe to the inhabitants of the various provinces the character of some European nation: thus the warlike Ait Imure are compared to the English, the people of Duquella to the Spaniards, and those of Shawia to the Russians.]

[Footnote 27: The country north of the river Morbeya. See the Map.]

[Footnote 28: This oil possesses a powerful smell, which is extracted from it by boiling with it an onion and the crumb of a loaf; without this preparation it is said to possess qualities productive of leprous affection.]

[Footnote 29: North of Santa Cruz, and south-east of Cape de Geer, are several lofty inaccessible mountains, proceeding from the main chain of Atlas, which form some intermediate plains, inhabited by a bold and warlike race of Shelluhs, denominated Edautenan. On account of certain essential services afforded by this people to Muley Ismael, or some ancient Emperor of Marocco, they are free from all imposts and taxes, a privilege which is confirmed to them, whenever a new Emperor ascends the throne of Marocco. They wear their hair long behind, but shaved, or short, before; they have an interesting and warlike appearance.]

[Footnote 30: If it blow more than three days, it is expected to continue seven; and if it exceed seven, it is said to continue fourteen, and so on. During the years that I was in the country, it never blew at Mogodor more than three or seven.]

[Footnote 31: The Bashaw then informed me that he had never before known it to continue more than twenty-one days, and he was a man of seventy, and a native of Suse.]

[Footnote 32: Bled-el-jerrêde is the country situated between the maritime states of Barbary and Sahara, or the Desert.]

[Footnote 33: Filelly is the term given to the natives of Tafilelt, as Drahawie is to those of Draha.]

[Footnote 34: The father of the present Sultan Soliman built a magnificent palace on the banks of the river of Tafilelt, which bounds his dominions to the eastward; the pillars are of marble, and were many of them transported across the Atlas, having been collected from the (Ukser Farawan) Ruins of Pharoah, near to the sanctuary of Muley Dris Zerone, west of Atlas.]

[Footnote 35: A horse erhella (or day’s journey) is thirty-five miles English.]

[Footnote 36: An ordinary erhella is thirty English miles.]

[Footnote 37: A cubit is twenty-one inches.]

[Footnote 38: Elkahol Filelly signifies lead ore of Tafilelt.]

[Footnote 39: The hayk of the Arabs is a plain piece of cloth, of wool, cotton, or silk, and is thrown over their under dress, somewhat similar to the Roman toga.]

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