El Maghreb: 1200 miles' ride through Marocco

Preface

. The following pages are an elaboration of the author's diary containing the record of visits to Marocco in each of the years 1882 — 1885. The journey which forms the principal subject of the volume was taken in 1883. In this journey we do not claim to have entered on any absolutely new ground, though in many places we quitted the ordinary caravan routes to the interior. Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs, who travelled wearing the garb, and professing the faith, of a Mussulman, no doubt preceded us not only at Wazan, but also along the road thence to Fez ; to the best of our belief, how ever, we were the first Europeans to follow in his footsteps along that road. With reference to the title of the book, it may be mentioned that El Maghreb is the short Arabic name for Marocco. Such other English works on Preface.

IV Marocco as have appeared during the last seventy years being confined to descriptions of either the Southern or Northern districts, my aim bere is to give a complete and accurate account of nearly the whole of a land which deserves to be better known and more frequently visited. I am sensible that my experience of the country (though greater than that of most modern writers on Marocco) is yet not sufficient to give that complete knowledge of the subject which can only be acquired after prolonged residence among the people. At the same time, freshness of observation and the sense of novelty which must wear off after long familiarity with strange scenes, must be held to count for something in favour of the visitor. They say lookers-on see most of the game, and certainly very strange games are some of those to which the attention of the new-comer in Marocco is directed.

Be this as it may, my sojourn in the country was enough to make me return deeply impressed with the melancholy waste of its immense resources, the deplorable coudition of its inhabitants, and the strange way in which it is neglected by European States. My book, there fore, is a plea for the civilization of the country and the development of its agriculture, so as to utilize the magnificent properties of the soil for Preface. V the benefit alike of the natives and the outside world, particularly England. It is to be hoped that the power of Christian States, now active enough for mischief in the country in many respects, may ere long be exerted for the attainment of this good object. Considerable space has also been devoted to the question of the " Protection " of Moors and Jews by Europeans, and to the subject closely allied thereto, the fraudulent claims preferred, and too often enforced, against natives by Christians and their proteges.

The subject is an unpleasant one to deal with, and is not unnaturally omitted in the works of other English writers on Marocco. At the same time, in any book pretending to be a complete description of the country, it is impossible to avoid mention of the nefarious system which plays so important a part in its internal economy. I obtained the skeleton of my map from the French War Map of 1848, which, though inaccurate in many particulars, as was only to be expected in a work compiled in a large measure from native information (Wazan and the adjacent districts had not then been visited by Europeans), remains still the most trustworthy map of the country. The details are from personal observation, with certain additions collated from the works of Dr. Rohlfs, Sir J. Hooker, and others. Preface.

VI The substance of the first chapter appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, and is now republished by the kind permission of Messrs Blackwood. In conclusion, the present is the author's first attempt at book-making. Such as it is, it is the result of much careful observation, and considerable study at leisure moments during the last year or so. If I shall have succeeded in directing in any degree the attention of Englishmen to this fascinating but most unhappy country, with a view to utilizing its riches and bettering the condition of its long suffering inhabitants, I shall be more than content. PAGE 1 CONTENTS.

Chapter I

First impressions of Tangier — The prison — Court of Justice and its procedure — Sights of Tangier — Ride to Cape Spartel — Snipe-shooting — Pig-sticking and boar-shooting — An accident — Start for Larache — El Khemis — Description of Larache — Ancient legends — A house on fire — Boar-hunt — Boo el Kheir — Moorish tea — Off again — Arzeilah — A ghostly camping-place — Journey to Tetuan — The Spanish war of 1859 — The town and its inhabitants — Gunsmiths' shops — An inquiring mind — The unexplored Riff — Fierceness of the Riffians ........

Chapter II

Feast of Mohammed — Lah el baroud — Triple murder — Indifference of the Moors — The Aissauias — Jewish entertainment — We start for the interior — Arab villages— Fertility of El Gharb— Alcazar— Its exceeding filth— Leo Africanus— Moorish decay — Contents. VIII PAGE 58 On the road to Wazan— Sabab — Our " warriors'' — Curiosity of natives — Wazan — Its aspect and view therefrom — Our house — The Shereef — Now a French subject — Results of the step 32

Chapter III

The Bischa objects to our company — His ultimate fate — Courteous kaid — Wad Wergha — Native distress — ■ Ouber Mohammed — Mona — Our qualms at accepting it — Matamors — Wad Seboo — Arab school — Approach to Fez — Magnificent view — Entry into Fez — First impressions of the city — The Bascha gives us a house — Official dislike of strangers — Its cause

Chapter IV

History of Fez — Description ofthe town — Guilds of craftsmen — Moorish shopmen — Moorish lunacy laws — Prisons — Justice and punishments — -Tortures — Mosques — Old library — Decay of learning — The Kessaria — Jews in Fez — Native fanaticism — Moorish bread — Our last evening in Fez .... 76

Chapter V

Moorish vet. — Visit to the Bascha — Cruelty to animals — Shelluh village and noisy " warriors " — Berbers of Marocco — Their origin and characteristics — Conflicting theories — Semites or Hamites — Review of evidence 102

Chapter VI

Arrival at Mequinez — Immense vaults — Sultan Moulai Ismael — Ruins of Mequinez — Eno— Second visit to Contents. IX PAGE ruins — Vast wall — Magnificent gate— Jews of Marocco — Their malpractices and unpopularity — Protected Jews — Hebrew women — Debasement of the Jews and their excuse 123

Chapter VII

Gorgeous escort — Moorish saddlery — Saraoun — Volubilis — Moulai Idrees — Saint-worship in Marocco — Its inconsistency with the true creed of Islam — Probable causes of saint-worship ..... 144

Chapter VIII

Sects of Islam — Its practice — The Hadj — Fasts — Prayer — Status of women in Marocco — Faith of Islam — Beliefs concerning the next world — Superstitions — Parallelism with popular Catholicism — Spread of Islam in Marocco — Causes of its decay — Hopelessness of reform . . . 152

Chapter IX

Obeisance to our escort — Moorish mendacity — Blood-tax — Irregular proceedings of the Sultan's cavalry — High-handed oppression — Iniquities of native rule — Mirage — Beni Hassen — Dangerous neighbours — Hadj Abisalam's ablutions — Distress of the people — A kaid in irons — Sallee — Idiotic ferry over the Boo-ragrag — Rabat — Moorish sepulture — Shellah — Tower of Hassen — Mosque 171

Chapter X

N'zalla of Boo Z'neka — Moorish melody — A bad camping-place — Casablanca — Trade of Marocco — War indem- Contents. X PAGE nity — Women-flogging — Off again — Ben Rajit — Terrible scenes of starvation — Moorish appetites — Z'ttatt — Sharp frost — Hospitable kaid — Extortion by a Jew ......... 193

Chapter XI

Fraudulent claims — Facilities for extortion by foreigners — Oppression of the natives — " Protection " in Marocco — Its abuses — Protected Jews — Malpractices in the interior — Madrid Conference of 1880 — Its provisions inoperative — Proposed remedies .... 207

Chapter XII

First view of the Atlas — Kasbah Boo-siri — A little learning is a dangerous thing — Ornithology of Marocco — Entertainment at Beni Miskeen — Tadla — Wad Oom R'bea — A dangerous ford — Ambassadors' mona — The Atlas — Beauty in distress — Alcala — Terrible misery— Tamilelt 218

Chapter XIII

Palm-groves — Marocco — Entry into the city — Description and history of the place — El Kutubia — Soko and auction — The Sultan's army — Lynch law — Tame sparrows — El Kantra — Lepers' Town — Moulai Hassan and his Grand Vizier — Power of the Sultan — The palace and its appurtenances — Sunset in Marocco —The City by night .- 242

Chapter XIV

En route for the coast — Numerous guard — Ain el Baida — Onkh el Jimmel — A thaleb out of work — Argan Contents. XI TASE forest — Sok el Tletta — Mogador — Highly scented Mellah — Sus and Wadnoon — Independent Jews — Soudan trade — Slave trade in Sus — Flooding the Sahara 268

Chapter XV

In the plain of Akermout — Journey to Saffi — Fat women — Status of the sex in Marocco — The barb — Dukala — Lovely flowers — Numerous ruins — Zaouias — Marketing in Azamoor — An upright Bascha — Rabat again — Excursion up the Boo-ragrag — The Zair tribe — Moorish yarns — Mehediah — Journey up the coast — A would-be embezzler — Larache and El Khemis again — We meet an old friend — Boar-hunting extraordinary — Back at Tangier — Our impressions of Marocco and the Moors 281

Chapter XVI

Genera] description of Marocco — Its climate and resources — Historical sketch — Government and laws — Trade — Political affairs — British interests in Marocco — -Gibraltar v. Ceuta — Marocco a possible basis of our food-supply — Sir John D. Hay and his critics — Suggested embassy at Fez — The chief reforms needed in Marocco — Probable results of the introduction of civilization — Desirability of a speedy settlement of the Marocco question EL MAGKHREB: 1200 MILES' RIDE THROUGH MAROCCO.

Chapter I

First impressions of Tangier — The prison — Court of justice and its procedure— Sights of Tangier — Ride to Cape Spartel— Snipe-shooting — Pig-sticking and boar-shooting — An accident — Start for Larache — El Kheniis — Description of Larache — Ancient legends — A house on fire — Boar-hunt — Boo el Kheir — Moorish tea — Off again — Arzeilah — A ghostly camping-place — Journey to Tetuan — The Spanish war of 1859 — The town and its inhabitants — Gunsmiths' shops — An inquiring mind — The unexplored Rif — Fierceness of the RifAans. In the month of November, 1881, being compelled to leave England for my health, I found myself at Tangier, on, as I imagined at the time, a flying visit of a week or ten days. The fascinations of the country, however, caused me to extend that visit to over four months, and it was succeeded by others, the second of which, in 1883, forms the chief subject of this volume.

The sense of wonderment felt by all who set foot for the first time in the place, at the sudden transi tion from civilization to barbarism, was not without its effect upon me as I strolled from the port, where grave, turbaned Moors sat cross-legged at the receipt of custom, up the queer, old, ill-paved B : 2 street, thronged with white-robed Arabs, Jews, negroes, mulattoes, and Europeans; the motley crowd, with its strange variety of types, shades of complexion and costume, that composes the popu lation of Tangier. The impression is deepened as one passes out through the principal gate into the open Soko or market-place, filled with camels, mules, donkeys, and an excited crowd of natives jabbering over their bargains with that intense ardour of gesture and expression peculiar to the Arab ; or else lying idly about — men in their jelabs (white woollen cloaks), muffled women, and prettily-clad children arranged in picturesque groups.

The scene is familiar to all who have travelled in the East, but nowhere else is the change so rapid and com plete as in Tangier, which, more Eastern than the East itself, and seemingly more remote, is yet within three hours' sail of Europe, and westwards of Piccadilly. The short passage of the straits carries you back,* as it were, some thousands of years ; or, as an American put it more forcibly, makes you feel as though you had been " taken up by the scruff of the neck and sot down in the Old Testament." Here one is living not merely among relics of the past, but in the past itself, only with good hotels and modern comforts about you as well ; and the Old- World, patriarchal life around one has a charm of its own, arising from a sense of tranquillity and repose, which few other health resorts possess.

The hoof of the British tourist has not yet succeeded in effacing this impression, Mi lei Ride through Marocco. 3 though the growing presence of the European is evidenced by the numerous gorgeous bazaars, villas, and hotels which are springing up all over the place. Mr. Cook has now annexed Tangier to his domains, and the sad spectacle of a telephone-wire stretched across the Soko and the antique walls and battlements of the town, brought home to me, on my last visit, the fact of the resistless inroads of civilization. Guided, perhaps, by the natural instincts of a man of law, I found myself, in my first walk through the town, making the tour of the Kasbah or citadel, wherein are the prisons, the palace of the Bascha, and his court of justice. The prison, though a sufficiently loathsome place, seems to have improved of late years, and in spite of its darkness and stench, and the famine-stricken faces of its inmates, it was always a luxurious abode compared with those of the interior.

The court of justice and the proceedings therein do not recall to mind the Old Bailey, any more than its presiding genius does Mr. Justice Hawkins. The judge, who is the Bascha or Mayor of Tangier, reclines at length on a couch, listening to the evidence which is given with much energy and volubility, with flashing eyes and excited gestures. There is a confused hubbub of chattering and recriminations on all sides. The prosecutor calls the accused a kilb ben el kilb (dog and son of a dog), and the prisoner replies with similar aspersions on the moral character of the other's parents and grandb : 4 parents; the judge roars like a bull of Basan at them both, and there is general confusion. Some times, in the middle of it all, the prisoner will jump up and exclaim that he can get another witness on his behalf.

He then runs out of court, unguarded, and presently, without fail, returns with his man. Meanwhile, the next case is called and proceeded with in similar fashion. It is not my intention to describe so well described a place as Tangier. The best thing my readers can do is to go and see it for themselves, and I think I can promise them they will not be bored. There is always something of interest to be seen, whether it is an Arab funeral, with its long train of mourners chanting their plaintive dirge ; or the still quainter wedding processions, where the bride is borne in triumph, cooped up in an ornamented box on a mule's back, attended by her kinsmen, all decked out in holiday attire, with pipes and tom-toms, and dancing and firing of guns. Very different, but no less comical, is a Jewish wedding, which, however, is an entirely indoor performance.

There the bride sits, gorgeously arrayed, on a raised dais or throne, with her eyes shut, speechless and motionless as a statue, in a room full of her relations and friends, who are got up quite regardless of expense. The proceedings are said to last a fortnight, during which there is much feasting and merry-making, but the unfortunate bride takes no part in the festivities, further than as described above. The weekly markets and festivals, too, with their Miles' Ride through Marocco. o 5 buzzing crowds and picturesque surroundings, the peasant folk passing to and fro, and the caravans of camels bringing merchandise from the interior — all visible from the windows of M. Bruzeaud's hotel — are a never-ending source of entertainment. Besides this, there are walks and rides in abundance along the pleasant bridle-paths.

Roads, be it observed, do not exist in Marocco ; hardly a pair of wheels to be found in the country ; and only half a dozen bridges, so that if you do not ride, you must go on your own legs. A very favourite ride is that to the Roman ruins of Old Tangier, along the shore of the bay, where the sands, at low water, are a splendid place for a gallop, and charming views the whole way. Por a longer and still more charming excursion, the visitor should go to the lighthouse at Cape Spartel. The road at first leads past a Roman aqueduct fairly preserved, up the wooded slopes of the Djebel Kebir, through narrow lanes between the gardens of the pretty villas which now dot the sides ofthe mountain ; then over hills covered with heath, broom, convolvulus, gum-cistus, and other flowering shrubs. Further on the track approaches the sea and winds along the side of the mountain, whose slopes, descending precipitously to the water's edge, recall to miud parts of the coast of North Devon.

The ride should be taken, if possible, in spring, when the bushes, bursting into bloom, cause the hill-sides to be ablaze with colour. And then what lovely views are there, over the blue waters of the straits, teeming with ships of all shapes and sizes, : like some huge marine canal, to the yellow sands of the bay where Trafalgar was fought, and the little town of Tarifa, backed by the purple hills of Spain. Eastwards, the prospect is bounded on the right by the lofty crest of the Beni Hassan range, still flecked with snow, and standing out in clear relief against the bright blue African sky. To their left, the Mediterranean stretches away between the opposing cliffs of Gibraltar and Djebel Moossa, the old Pillars of Hercules, twin guardians of the outlet to the western world, which frown at each other across the passage.

The lighthouse itself, a magnificent struc ture with a large Moorish court attached, stands immediately below the summit of the Djebel Kebir, which here rises straight from the sea to a height of nearly 1000 feet. The scenery is worthy of the great cape which forms the north-west corner of the African continent, and on the summit of the shattered cliffs one is tempted to linger and gaze over the vast Atlantic, and listen to its rollers booming on the iron-bound shore below. The excursion is generally prolonged to the grind stone caves, the old Caves of Hercules, three miles down the Atlantic coast — vast, waterworn caverns, into which the waves dash with a roar as of thunder. In their recesses, a number of wild-looking, half naked creatures, like gnomes, are usually to be seen at work cutting out the millstones, by which the caves have been hollowed out to their present dimensions.

During my first stay at Tangier, excellent snipe- Miles' Ride through Marocco. 7 shooting was to be had at the lakes of Sharf-al- Akab, some fifteen miles from the town, to which myself and a friend were not slow in paying a visit. In two and a half days' shooting, we got eighty-two and a half couple of snipe, with a few extras. There are also partridges, hares, rabbits, duck, &c, to be got, but the number of sportsmen, professional and otherwise, has increased to such an extent that the game is rapidly getting exterminated within a radius of about twelve miles. The sport par excellence, however, of the place is pig-sticking, for which expeditions are periodically organized by Sir John Drummond Hay, our Minister to the Court of Marocco. I enjoyed few things more than these hunting trips : the pretty encampment on the hill at Awara, the excitement of the day's sport, the pleasant company and chat round the big camp-fire at night, are among my pleasantest memories of the country.

The other method of boar-hunting is by the battue system, the guns being posted in front, and the game driven up to them. Thn, if not equal to pig-sticking, is likewise excellent fan, — the shriek ing and uproar of the beaters, accompanied by the barking of dogs, the braying of horns, and the discharge of guns, rendering it very exciting. The curses and imprecations, mingled with the most biting sarcasms, that are showered on the unfortu nate animals, are enough to oust the most stubborn boar from his lair. An Arab oath is a very elaborate affair, being sustained through a number of paren- : 8 theses and subordinate phrases to an indefinite length. " May Allah burn the ashes of your great grandfather, who was the miserable offspring of a brother and sister," &c, &c, may serve as an example.

They imagine the unclean animal to be the abode o? jins, or evil spirits, and maintain some times a running conversation with him, every word of which he is supposed to understand. There is a curious ceremony connected with the sport, to which all successful novices are subjected. After killing my first pig, the chief hunter came up aud took away my gun, and a ring being formed, the piece was put up to auction. After it has been bidden for a while, you have to buy it in yourself at a certain price — say, four or five dollars. It is a way of paying the beaters, who otherwise contribute their services for nothing. The sheikh of the village called next morning for the money, and I was told my health would be duly drunk in cups of green tea at an Arab kettledrum. I thought the least they could do would be to send me a card of invitation, but they didn't. Boar-hunting has its disadvantages, for it is unquestionably a dangerous amusement.

There are perils of the pig, which, if wounded, will turn and rend you; perils of the gentleman who will ride with his lance in rest, instead of carrying the point in the air, or of the no less objectionable individual who shifts from his post and fires wildly down the line ; of the ambushed Moor, who shoots impartially in any direction ; while, unless you are Miles' Ride through Marocco. 9 well mounted, you have a very tolerable chance of breaking your neck. One accident occurred as follows. While posted one day, waiting for boar, we heard a more than usual commotion among the beaters, which lasted for some time, till at length a huge grey old tusker broke cover, and came across the intervening space up to my left-hand neighbour. He fired and wounded the beast, which immediately charged ; and whether he fell or was knocked over, I never could make out, but the next thing I saw was my friend sprawling on the ground, and the boar jumping clean over him.

Several people rushed up to the rescue, and blazed away promis cuously, so that, though no one was injured by the pig, I was more shocked than surprised to find that one gentleman had received a slug in the arm. Fourteen shots were fired at poor piggy, who made off notwithstanding, and was seen crossing a river by one of the Moors, who, in their familiar language of hyperbole, described him as descending the hill, " quarrelling with himself, and with a large tree on each tusk ! " He added, that though his gun was loaded, the charge had been there since a very uncertain date, and it contained what he called a " running bullet," so that he thought it prudent not to fire. During the first two months of my stay at Tangier, I did not extend my excursions to any distance into the country, with the exception of a week's camping in the hilly district of Andjra, which lies to the east of Tangier, in the direction of Ceuta. : 10 In January, however, four of us arranged an ex pedition to Larache, a seaport town, some seventy miles to the south-west, where we were told that game, especially partridges, in fabulous quantities was to be found.

After a few busy days, spent in hiring servants, animals, tents, and other equipments, we effected a start early one morning in January along the broad and well-defined track which constitutes the high way to Fez. The road for the first few hours lay through undulating country, cultivated for the most part, and giving promise of a good crop. Farmers were at work tilling the ground with ploughs of patriarchal shape and construction, drawn by queer, mixed teams, such as a donkey and a goat, or a cow and a horse. The Arab husbandman makes a mere scratch of a furrow, throws in the seed, and lets it lie. He never uses a harrow, for it would be an unwarrantable interference with the workings of nature, not to leave the seed in the ground to shift for itself, and anything approaching scientific farming would be accounted little short of impious.

"Allah will provide." If the elements are propi tious, and there is a bounteous harvest — well. If, on the contrary, the crop should fail, and famine ensue, he will not complain, but bear his sufferings with the characteristic patience of his race. Why it should be in accordance with the laws of Kismet to use a plough, but not a harrow, it boots not to inquire, for fatalism seldom concerns itself with logic. Miles' Ride through Marocco. 1 1 Marocco is now nearly destitute of trees. It was once densely wooded, but the forests have been almost entirely cut down for fuel, or else because they afforded refuge to robbers and wild beasts. Here and there a grove of olives, remaining un touched, marked the tomb of a saint, where religious scruple preserved the trees from destruction. A tidal river, the Wad el Kharrub, was forded, and then a steep hill clothed with bushes and palm scrub, called the Akhbar el Hamra (Red Mountain), had to be climbed by a terribly rough and stony path.

We camped at a village called Hhadd el Gharbia, the site of an important market, five-aud twenty or thirty miles from Tangier, where we had our first experience of haggling with the natives over the price of provisions and corn, they evidently thinking that they ought to make the most out of such rare birds of passage. The next morning saw us early on the road, so as to reach our destination before sundown. The country became more hilly and variegated as we advanced, and in many bushy glens, amid steep and rocky hills, we saw traces of the wild boar, who had rooted up the ground in all directions. Passing through some woods of mingled cork and olive trees, with a rich and tangled undergrowth of mosses, ferns, and flower ing creepers, we reached a good-sized village of mud-huts, enclosed by fences of cactus and prickly pear, which they told us was to be our head-quarters for shooting.

It was called El Khemis, or place of the Thursday market, a common way they have of : 12 naming places after the day on which the weekly market is held there. Our camp was pitched some six miles from Larache on a breezy common, near the edge of a high plateau, which descended, pre cipitously at first, then in a gradual slope for three miles, to the shore of the Atlantic. The partridges were not in such multitudes as to darken the air with their wings, in the way Arab hyperbole had led us to expect, but there were enough, with a few snipe and teal, hares, rabbits, &c, to give us very fair sport. The Barbary partridge is a species of red-leg, similar to, but not identical with, the obnoxious "Frenchman" of our islands. One peculiarity he has, is that of perching in trees, and the whirr of wings, as a covey gets out of a thick bush close to your head, is very startling at first, and apt to lead to a miss.

Singularly enough, they are to be found on the Rock of Gib raltar, but not on the mainland of Spain, where the ordinary red-leg alone exists. Like the Barbary apes, which are supposed to pass to and fro from Ape's Hill by means of a subterranean passage beneath the straits, they seem to regard the Rock as belonging by rights to the other continent, to which, no doubt, it was joined in bygone ages. Next Sunday we rode into Larache. The town lies at the mouth of a big river, the Wad el Koos, on rising ground, but surrounded by extensive marshes. The Wad Koos is the Lixus of the Romans, but not that of the Periplus of Hanno, which must have been some river further to Miles' Ride through Marocco. 1 3 the south.1 Larache, according to some ancient authors, was the site of the Garden of the Hespe rides, so that the magnificent orange-groves in the vicinity of our encampment doubtless bore the golden apples guarded by the terrible monster which Hercules overcame and slew.