Part 2
Officiated as Interpreter between the Prince and Dr. Bell.--Description of Food sent to us by the Prince.--The Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah, an incomparably fine and productive Country.--The Cavalry of the Amorites;--their unique Observations on Dr. Bell: their mean opinion of his Art, because he could not cure Death.--Passage of the River Seboo on Rafts of inflated Skins.--Spacious tent of Goat's Hair erected for the Sheik, and appropriated to the Use of the Prince.--Description of the magnificent Plains of M'sharrah Rummellah and Seboo.--Arabian Royalty.--Prodigious Quantity of Corn grown in these Plains.--Matamores, what they are.--Mode of Reaping.--
The Prince presents the Doctor with a Horse, and approves of his Medicines.--The Prince and the Doctor depart south-eastwardly, and the Author pursues his Journey to Rabat and Mogodor. 191
_Of the excavated Residences of the Inhabitants of Atlas: the Acephali, Hel Shoual, and Hel el Kitteb_. 198
The Discovery of Africa not to be effected by the present System of solitary Travellers; but by a grand Plan, with a numerous Company; beginning with Commerce, as the natural Prelude to Discovery, the Fore-runner of Civilization, and a preliminary Step, indispensable to the Conversion of the native Negroes to Christianity.
_Cautions to be used in Travelling_. 202
Danger of Travelling after Sun-set.--The Emperor holds himself accountable for Thefts committed on Travellers, whilst travelling between the rising and the setting Sun.--Emigration of Arabs.--Patriarchal Style of Living among the Arabs; Food, Clothing, domestic Looms, and Manufactures.--Riches of the Arabs calculated by the Number of Camels they possess.--Arabian Women are good Figures, and have personal Beauty; delicate in their Food; poetical Geniuses; Dancing and Amusements; Musical Instruments; their Manners are courteous.
_Abundance of Corn produced in West Barbary_. 208
Costly Presents made by Spain to the Emperor.--Bashaw of Duquella's Weekly Present of a Bar of Gold.--Mitferes or Subterranneous Depositaries for Corn.
_Domestic Serpents of Marocco_ 213
_Manufactures of Fas_. 214
Superior Manufactory of Gold Thread.--Imitation of precious Stones.--Manufactory of Gun-barrels in Suse.--Silver-mine.
_On the State of Slavery in Muhamedan Africa_. 219
_The Plague of Locusts_. 221
Their incredible Destruction.--Used as Food.--Remarkable Instance of their destroying every Green Herb on one Side of a River, and not on the other.
_On the Influence of the great Principle of Christianity on the Moors_. 224
Of the Propagation of Christianity in Africa.--Causes that prevent it.--The Mode of promoting it is through a friendly and commercial Intercourse with the Natives.--Exhortation to Great Britain to attend to the Intercourse with Africa.--Danger of the French colonizing Senegal, and supplanting us, and thereby depreciating the Value of our West-India Islands.
_Interest of Money._ 237
Application of the Superflux of Property or Capital.
_Plan for the gradual Civilisation of Africa._ 247
On the Commercial Intercourse with Africa, through the Sahara and Ashantee.
_Prospectus of a Plan for forming a North African or Sudan Company: to be instituted for the Purpose of establishing an extensive Commerce with, and laying open to British Enterprise, all the Interior Regions of North Africa._ 251
Appendix to the foregoing Prospectus, being an Epitome of the Trade carried on by Great Britain and the European States in the Mediterranean, indirectly with Timbuctoo, the Commercial Depot of North Africa, and with other States of Sudan. 254
Letter from Vasco de Gama, in Elucidation of this Plan. 258
Letter on the Commercial Intercourse with Africa, in further Elucidation of this Plan. 264
Impediments to our Intercourse with Africa. 266
_Architecture of the Mosques.--Funeral Ceremonies of the Moors,--Gardens at Fas._ 271
_Fragments, Notes, and Anecdotes, illustrating the Nature and Character of the Country._ 276
Introduction,--Trade with Sudan.--Wrecked Ships on the Coast, 278.--Wrecked Sailors.--Timbuctoo Coffee.--Sand Baths.--Civil War common in West Barbary, 279.--Policy of the Servants of the Emperor.--El Wah El Grarbee, or the Western Oasis, 280.--Prostration, the Etiquette of the Court of Marocco, 281.--Massacre of the Jews, and Attack on Algiers.--Treaties with Muhamedan Princes, 283.--Berebbers of Zimurh Shelleh--The European Merchants at Mogodor escape from Decapitation, 284.--The Body of the Emperor Muley Yezzid disinterred, 286. Shelluhs; their Revenge and Retaliation, 291.--Travelling in Barbary.--Anecdote displaying the African Character, and showing them to be now what they were anciently, under Jugurtha, 293.--Every Nation is required to use its own Costume, 296.--Ali Bey (El Abassi), Author of the Travels under that Name, 297.--The Emperor's Attack on Dimenet, in the Atlas, 305.--Moral Justice, 306.--Contest between the Emperor and the Berebbers of Atlas.--Characteristic Trait of Muhamedans, 308.--Political Deception, 309.--Etiquette of the Court of Marocco, 310.--Customs of the Shelluhs of the Southern Atlas.--Connubial Customs, 313.--Political Duplicity, 314.--Etiquette of Language at the Court of Marocco, 315.--Food, viz. Kuscasoe, Hassua, El Hasseeda, 317--The Woled Abbusebah, a whole Clan of Arabs, banished from the Plains of Marocco, 317.--The Koran called the Beloved Book.--Arabian Music, 318.--Sigilmessa.--Mungo Park at Timbuctoo.--Troglodyte, 319,--Police of West Barbary, 320.--Muley Abdrahaman ben Muhamed, an Anecdote of, 322,--Anecdote of Muley Ismael, 323.--Library at Fas, 324.--Deism, 325--Muhamedan Loyalty.--Cairo, 326.--Races of Men constituting the Inhabitants of West and South Barbary, and that part of Bled el Jereed, called Tafilelt and Sejin Messa, east of the Atlas, forming the territories of the present Emperor of Marocco: the Moors--the Berebbers--the Shelluhs, 327.--The Arabs--the Jews--Douars, 328.--Various Modes of Intoxication, 329.--Division of Agricultural Property, 331.--Mines.--Nyctalopia, Hemeralopia, or Night-blindness, called by the Arabs _Butelleese_; and its Remedy, 332.--Vaccination, 336.--Game, 338.--Agriculture.--Mitferes, 339.--Laws of Hospitality, 340.--Punishment for Murder.--Insolvency Laws, 343.--Dances, 344.--Circumcision.--Invoice from Timbuctoo to Santa Cruz, 345.--Translation of a Letter from Timbuctoo, 346.--Invoice from Timbuctoo to Fas, 347.--Translation of its accompanying Letter from Timbuctoo, 348.--Food of the Desert,--Antithesis, a favourite Figure with the Arabs, 349.--Arabian Modes of Writing, 350.--Decay of Science and of Arts among the Arabs, 352.--Extraordinary Abstinence experienced in the Sahara. 353
_Languages of Africa._ 355
Various Dialects of the Arabic Language.--Difference between the Berebber and Shelluh Languages.--Specimen of the Mandinga Language.--Comparison of the Shelluh Language with that of the Wah el Grarbie, or Oasis of Ammon, and with the original Language of the Canary Islands, and similitude of Customs.
_Titles of the Emperor of Marocco._ 382
Style of addressing him. 383
_Specimens of Muhamedan Epistolatory Correspondence._ 384
LETTER I. Translation of a Letter from Muley Ismael, Emperor of Marocco, to Captain Kirke, at Tangier, Ambassador from King Charles the Second, A.D. 1684. _ibid_
LETTER II. From the same to Sir Cloudesley Shovel, on board the Charles Galley, off Sallee, A.D. 1684. 387
LETTER III, Captain Shovel's Answer, September 1684. 389
LETTER IV. Translation of Muley Ismael, Emperor of Marocco's Letter to Queen Anne, A.D. 1710, from the Harl. MSS. 7525. 392
LETTER V. Translation of a Letter from the Sultan Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah, Emperor of Marocco, to the European Consuls resident at Tangier, delivered to each of them by the Bashaw of the Province of El Grarb, A.D. 1788. 394
LETTER VI. From Muley Soliman ben Muhamed, Emperor of Marocco, &c. &c. to His Majesty George the Third, literally translated by J.G. Jackson, at the Request of the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, after lying in the Secretary of State's Office here for several Months, and being sent ineffectually to the Universities, and after various Enquiries had been made on Behalf of the Emperor to the Governor of Gibraltar, the Bashaw of El Grarb, and the Alkaid of Tangier, to ascertain if any Answer had been returned to His Imperial Majesty. 395
LETTER VII. Translation of a Firman of Departure, literally translated from the original Arabic, by J.G. Jackson. 398
LETTER VIII. From Hulaku the Tartar, Conqueror of the East, to Al Malek Annasar, Sultan of Aleppo, A.D. 1259. 399
LETTER IX. Translation of a Letter from the Emperor Muley Yezzid, to Webster Blount, Esq. Consul General to the Empire of Marocco, from their High Mightinesses, the States General of the Seven United Provinces, written soon after the Emperor's Proclamation, and previous to the Negociation for the opening of the Port of Agadeer or Santa Cruz to Dutch Commerce. 402
LETTER X. Translation of a Letter from the Emperor Yezzid to the Governor of Mogodor, Aumer ben Daudy, to give the Port of Agadeer to the Dutch, and to send there the Merchants of that Nation. 402
LETTER XI. Epistolary Diction used by the Muhamedans of Africa in their Correspondence with all their Friends who are not of the Muhamedan Faith, A.D. 1797. 404
LETTER XII. Translation of a Letter from the Sultan Seedi Muhamed, Emperor of Marocco, to the Governor of Mogodor, A.D. 1791, A.H. 1203. 405
_Doubts having been made, in the Daily Papers, concerning the Accuracy of the two following Translations of the Shereef Ibrahim's Account of Mungo Park's Death, the following Observations by the Author are laid before the Public, in Elucidation of those Translations._ 406
The Shereef Ibrahim's Account of Mungo Park's Death (The Author's Translation). 409
Observation. 410
Extract from the Times, May 3, 1819.--Mungo Park. 412
The Shereef Ibrahim's Account of Mungo Park's Death (Mr. Abraham Saleme's Translation). 413
Letter to the Editor of the British Statesman, on the Errors in Mr. Saleme's Translation of the Shereef Ibrahim's Account of the Death of Mungo Park. 415
_Letters respecting Africa, from J.G. Jackson and other._ 419
On the Plague. To James Willis, Esq. late Consul to Senegambia. 419
Death of Mungo Park. 424
Death of Mr. Rontgen, in an Attempt to explore the Interior of Africa. 425
Of the Venomous Spider.--Charmers of Serpents.--Disease called Nyctalopia, or Night-blindness.--Remedy for Consumption in Africa.--Western Branch of the Nile, and Water Communication between Timbuctoo and Egypt. 429
Offer to discover the African Remedy for Nyctalopia or Night-blindness, in a Letter addressed to the Editor of the Literary Panorama. 432
Letter to the same. 433
Critical Observations on Extracts from the Travels of Ali Bey and Robert Adams, in the Quarterly Journal of Literature, Science, and the Arts, edited at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Vol. I. No. 2, p. 264. 435
On the Junction of the Nile of Egypt with the Nile of Timbuctoo, or of Sudan. 443
Strictures respecting the Interior of Africa, and Confirmation of Jackson's Account of Sudan, annexed to his Account of the Empire of Marocco, &c. 446
Animadversions on the Orthography of African Names (by Catherine Hutton). 455
Hints for the Civilization of Barbary, and Diffusion of Commerce, by Vasco de Gama. 457
Plan for the Conquest of Algiers, by Vasco de Gama. 461
Letter from El Hage Hamed El Wangary, respecting a Review of Ali Bey's Travels, in the "Portfolio," an American Periodical Work. 464
On the Negroes (by Vasco de Gama). 465
Cursory Observations on Lieutenant Colonel Fitzclarence's Journal of a Route across India, through Egypt, to England. 467
On the Arabic Language, as now spoken in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 471
Cursory Observations on the Geography of Africa, inserted in an Account of a Mission to Ashantee, by T. Edward Bowdich, Esq. showing the Errors that have been committed by European travellers on that Continent, from their Ignorance of the Arabic Language, the learned and the general travelling Language of that interesting Part of the World. 474
Commercial Intercourse with the Interior of Africa. 493
The Embassage of Mr. Edmund Hogan, one of the sworne Esquires of Queen Elizabeth, from Her Highness, to Muley Abdelmelech, Emperour of Marocco, and King of Fez and Sus, in the Yeare 1577. Written by Himselfe. 494
Letter from the Author to Macvey Napier, Esq. F.R.S.L., and E. 505
Observations on an Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, by the late John Leyden, M.D. by Hugh Murray, Esq. F.R.S.E. 508
Cursory Observations on African Names. 509
Letter to the Author from Hugh Murray, Esq. F.R.S.E. 513
On the Two Niles of Africa, or the Niger and the Nile. 514
APPENDIX.
_Historical Fragments in Elucidation of the foregoing pages._ 519
First Expedition on Record to Timbuctoo--Timbuctoo and Guago captured by Muley Hamed (Son of Muley Abdelmelk, commonly called Muley Melk, or Muley Moluck) in the Sixteenth Century (about the Year 1580). 519
A Library of 3000 Arabic Manuscripts taken by the Spaniards.--Contests among Christians reprimanded. 520
Muley El Arsheed (a Second Expedition to Timbuctoo and Sudan). 521
Third Expedition to Timbuctoo and Sudan. 523
* * * * *
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.
Map of the Tracks across the Sahara to Timbuctoo, _to face_. 1
Map of the Empire of Marocco. 55
[Illustration]
1
AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY FROM FAS TO TIMBUCTOO, PERFORMED IN OR ABOUT THE YEAR 1787, A.C. BY _EL HAGE ABD SALAM SHABEENY_.
The Moors always prefer the spring and summer for travelling, because they suffer very much from the severe cold of the mornings in winter. They generally leave Fas in the beginning of April to proceed to Timbuctoo, and they leave Timbuctoo to return to Fas in the month of January.
The Mecca caravan takes its departure from Fas the beginning of March.
In travelling, the Moors hire their camels from stage to stage. Shabeeny's first stage was from Fas[1] to Tafilelt, which is generally performed in about twenty days.
[Footnote 1: This is a journey of crooked and rugged roads across the Atlas mountains, where they often sojourn in spots which invite the traveller, so that it takes a longer time to perform it than the distance would indicate.] 2 The hire of every camel was from ten to twelve ducats, at five shillings sterling per ducat; as this route is through a very mountainous country, and the travelling is very bad, the charges were proportionally high; the weight which every camel carried was between four and five quintals, the camels in this country being strong and very large.[2]
Tafilelt is the place of general meeting of all the merchants who go to Timbuctoo.[3]
The territory of Tafilelt contains no towns, but abounds in fortresses with mud-walls[4], which the natives call El Kassar, and which contain from three to four hundred families; in these fortresses there is a public market (in Arabic, _soke_) every week, where the inhabitants purchase provisions, &c.
The natives of Tafilelt are descendants of the shereefs[5] or princes of Marocco, and are therefore of the Imperial family.
[Footnote 2: This charge of carriage by the camels from Fas to Tafilelt, is equal to 55s., sterling per camel; to 1-1/2d. per mile for each camel, and to one farthing and one third per quintal of merchandise per mile.]
[Footnote 3: That is for all who go from the Emperor of Marocco's dominions, north of the river Morbeya, which is called El Garb, or the North Western Division.]
[Footnote 4: These mud walls are made in cases, and the mode of erecting them is called _tabia_. See Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, &c. &c. 2d or 3d edition, page 298.]
[Footnote 5: Hence it is called _Bled Shereef_, i.e. the Country of Princes.] 3 Shabeeny's next stage was to Draha[6], which he reached in six days. The expense per camel was about six ducats, or thirty shillings sterling. The district of Draha abounds in the small hard date[7], which is very fine; from four to six drahems[8] (equal to two to three shillings sterling) is the price of a camel load of these dates.
The province of Draha is larger than that of Tafilelt, its circumference being about four or five days' journey. The natives[9] of Draha are very dark, approaching to black, in their complexion: this province abounds in fortresses, like those of Tafilelt.
[Footnote 6: A province at the foot of the mountains of Atlas, south of Marocco, for which see the Map of West Barbary, in Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, &c. &c. p. 1.]
[Footnote 7: This date is called by the natives _bouskree:_ it contains a larger quantity of saccharine juice than any other date. This province also produces a date called _butube_, which is the best that grows, and is called _sultan de timmar_, i.e. the king of dates. It is not used as an article of commerce, but is sent as presents to the great, and costs nearly double the price of those of any other quality: the quality mostly used for foreign commerce, is the Tafilelt date, called _timmar adamoh_, which is sold by the grocers in London. This species is, however, considered very unwholesome food, and accordingly is never eaten by the Filellies, or inhabitants of Tafilelt, but is food for the camels. The district of Tafilelt abounds in dates of all kinds: there are not less than thirty different kinds; and the plantations of dates belonging to the princes of Tafilelt are very extensive, insomuch that the annual produce of one plantation is often sold for a thousand dollars, or 220L sterling. Half a dollar, or five drahems per camel load of three quintals.]
[Footnote 8: A drahem is a silver coin, ten of which are equal to a Mexico dollar.]
[Footnote 9: Their colour is darker than new copper, but not black, It may be compared to the colour of _old_ mahogany, with a black hue. The natives of Draha are proverbially stupid.] 4 The caravans have not, as in the journey to Mecca, their sheiks[10] or commanders. From Fas to Tafilelt they had no chief, but as there are generally a few old, rich, and respectable men in the caravan, its direction and government are committed to their care.
[Footnote 10: The _sheik akkabar_, or chief of the accumulated caravan, is generally a _shereef_ or prince.]
From Tafilelt, which, as before observed, is the country of the shereefs, they are guided by such of the trading shereefs as accompany the caravan, and who have always great respect paid them, till they arrive at Timbuctoo. The caravan increases as it proceeds in its journey: at Fas it consisted of about thirty or forty; at Draha, of from 300 to 400 camels. From Draha, at the distance of three days' travelling, they found water by digging, and on the next morning they entered the _Sahara_, which, for the first twenty days is a plain sandy desert resembling the sea. In this desert, when they pitch their tents at night, they are obliged frequently to shake the sand from their tops, as they would otherwise be overwhelmed before the morning.
Some part of this desert is hard, and the camels do not sink deep into it; in others the sand is very loose, which fatigues the 5 camels exceedingly. In travelling, the caravan is directed by the stars at night, and by the sun in the day, and occasionally by the smell of the earth, which they take up in their hands. For the first twenty days after they enter this wilderness they have no water; during this period, the caravan is obliged to carry water in goat-skins[11], as not a drop is to be found by digging. On this account, about a third part of the camels are employed in carrying water, and even with this quantity the camels are often left for three or four days without any. They never use mules in this part of the journey; they neither find the _sheh_[12], nor the thorny plant so common in the deserts of Africa.
The country on the borders of this desert, to the right and left, is inhabited by roving Arabs, at the distance of three or four days from the track which the caravan pursues; and is said to be partly plain, and in part hilly, with a little grass, and a few shrubs; when the cattle of these Arabs have consumed what grows in one spot, their owners remove to another. The caravan, though it generally consisted of about 400 men well armed, seeks its route through the most unfrequented part of the desert, from a dread of the attacks of the Arabs. The hottest wind is that from the east-south-east, and is called _Esshume_[13]; the coldest is that which blows from the west-north-west. To alleviate the great drought which travellers feel in the desert, they have recourse to melted butter.[14]
[Footnote 11: These goat-skins, when containing water, are called by the Arabs _kereb_, or _ghireb_, plur. _kerba_, or _ghirba_, sing.]
[Footnote 12: The _sheh_ is the wormseed plant, the thorny plant here alluded to is the wild myrtle.]
[Footnote 13: _Esshume_, or the hot wind. For a particular description of this extraordinary wind, see Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, &c. &c. 2d or 3d edition, page 283 and 284.]
[Footnote 14: This is old butter kept several years in a _matamore_, or subterraneous cavern. It is called by the Arabs of the desert, _budra_; and much virtue is ascribed to it when it has attained a certain age: a small quantity swallowed, quickly diffuses itself through the system.]
6 After passing this desert of twenty days, they enter a country which varies in its appearance, particular spots being fertile[15] (called El Wah). Here they meet with _sederah_[16], a kind of wild myrtle, in great quantities. This plant is called by the natives, _gylan:_ its height is about that of a man; the camels feed upon it. Between these shrubs there is a very small quantity of grass in particular spots. In this part of the desert they meet with extensive strata of stones: though the surface is generally sand, yet at the depth of eight or ten inches, they meet with a yellow or reddish earth; and about four feet deeper, with another kind of earth of various colours, but most commonly of a brownish cast; 7 about five or six feet under this they find water, which springs up very slowly, and at the bottom of this water you meet with a light sand. Sometimes the water is sweetish, frequently brackish, and generally warm. This last desert is about twenty days' journey, and is a vast plain without any mountains. They meet with no Arabs in this part, but the country on the right and left of their route, at the distance of from three to eight days' journey, is inhabited by Arabs, who are governed by their own (_sheiks_) chiefs, and are perfectly independent.
[Footnote 15: El Wah. For a full explanation of this term, see Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, 3d edition, p. 283.]
[Footnote 16: _Sederah_, thorny shrubs of all kinds are so called.]
From Akka to Timbuctoo, a journey of forty-three days, they meet with no trees, except the _sederah_, no rivers, towns, or huts. From Draha, which is a country abounding in camels, to Timbuctoo, the charge per camel is from sixteen to twenty-one ducats.[17] That so long a journey is performed at so small[18] an expense, is owing to the abundance of camels in Draha. The caravan generally contains from 300 to 400 men, of whom a great part prefer walking to the uneasy motion of the camels.
[Footnote 17: From Fas to Tafilelt, 20 days, for 11 ducats per camel.
Tafilelt to Draha, 6 do. 6 do. do.
Draha to Timbuctoo, 48 do. 18-1/2 do. do.
--- ----
69 days, for 35-1/2 ducats per camel load, which is about the rate of one farthing per quintal per mile. This does not include the expense of camels for the conveyance of merchants, servants, &c. or of provisions or water, but merely of those carrying goods. A full account of these caravans, and their mode of crossing the Sahara, will be found in Jackson's Marocco, ch. 13.]
[Footnote 18: The expense is now (A.C. 1818) smaller, as the ducat, by a coinage which is depreciated, has fallen to 3s. 6d. sterling.] 8 SITUATION OF THE CITY OF TIMBUCTOO.