Much had been written, as is usual in such cases, on either side, old friends had quarrelled, and each side looked upon the other as people of no culture and outside the pale of decent men. My preference was for “Mektub,” but Lutaif, who had the prejudice which knowledge of a language sometimes induces, was in favour of “Mektab.” The Sherif considered carefully, and gave his dictum that either could be said, although he added, those who say “Mektab” show want of education. So we were left in the position of the grammarian, whose last words were, “l’un et l’autre se disent.”
Thus, in a week, I had met three Arabs all representative of their several classes, and, as usual, liked the man best who had been least influenced by European ways. Mulai Othmar disdained the idea of European protection, saying it was fit for Jews and slaves, but not for men, and that, for his part, sooner than ask for protection from any European power, he would return into the desert and follow a nomadic life. I took my leave of him with a feeling of real regret, such as one feels occasionally for those one sees but for an instant, but whose features never leave one’s mind. If there are, in the Sahara, many such as he, there is regeneration yet for the Arab race, so that they resolutely refuse all dealings with Europeans; reject our bibles, guns, powder, and shoddy cottons, our political intrigues, and strive to live after the rules their Prophet left them in his holy book. If they forsake them, as in some measure the inhabitants of Morocco certainly have done, slavery, sure and certain, is their lot; and in the time to come our rule, or that of the French or Germans, will transform them into the semblance of the abject creatures who once were free as swallows, and who to-day lounge round the frontier towns in North America calling themselves Utes, Blackfeet, Apaches, or what not, ghosts of their former selves, sodden with whisky, blotched with the filthy ailments we have introduced, and living contradictions of the morality and the religion under which we live.
By noon next day we had almost dropped the Atlas out of sight; the enormous wall of rocks rising straight from the plain had vanished; the tall snow-peaks above the chain alone remained in sight, and they appeared to hang suspended in the air. The vegetation changed, and once again the ground grew sandy. The white [285] broom bursting into flower covered it here and there in patches, as with an air of snow new fallen and congealed upon the branches of the plants. Again we passed a range of foothills, rocky and steep, from the top of which, like a blue vapoury haze, we saw the sea; and as we led our jaded animals down the abrupt descent, a Berber shepherd standing on a knoll was playing on his pipe. He stopped occasionally and burst into a strange, wild song, quavering and fitful, the rhythm interrupted curiously, so as to be almost incomprehensible to ears accustomed to street organs, pianos, bands, sackbut, harp, psaltery, and all kinds of music which we have fashioned and take delight in according to our kind; but which I take it would be as void of meaning to a Berber as is our way of life. I checked my horse, and sitting sideways for an instant, tried to catch the rhythm; but failed, perhaps because my ears were dulled by all the noises of our world, and less attuned to nature than those of the brown figure standing on the rock. But though I could not catch that which I aimed at, I still had pleasure in his song, for, as he sang, the noise of trains and omnibuses faded away; the smoky towns grew fainter; the rush, the hurry, and the commonness of modern life sank out of sight; and in their place I saw again the valley of the N’fiss, the giant Kasbah with its four truncated towers, the Kaid, his wounded horse, the Persian, and the strange entrancing half-feudal, half-Arcadian life, which to have seen but for a fortnight consoled me for my failure, and will remain with me a constant vision (seen in the mind, of course, as ghosts are seen); but ever fresh and unforgettable.
Next day about eleven o’clock, driving our horses through the Argan scrub in front of us, tired, dusty, and on foot, we reached the Palm-Tree House.
APPENDIX A
“SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SHILLAH LANGUAGE.”
The Shillah tongue, that is, the speech of the southern branch of the great Berber family, since 1799, when Venture de Paradis made his vocabulary, has greatly interested students of philology. Its great antiquity is undoubted, the term Amazirgh by which the Shillah designate themselves occurring in the pages of several classical writers under the form of Mazyes, Mazisci, and Mazyes. Though akin to the dialect spoken in the Riff mountains, and that of the Kabyles of Algeria, and possessing considerable affinity to the Tamashek spoken by the Tuaregs, it yet has considerable dialectic differences from all of them, though they have been usually held to be of one stock. The chief peculiarity that strikes a stranger is the formation of the feminine in nouns which is marked by the addition of a T at the beginning and the end of the word, as Amazirgh (noble), which becomes Tamazirght, when used for the speech of the Shillah people. Tarudant and Tafilet are merely Arabic words turned into Shillah by the addition of the two T’s, and rendered feminine to agree with the Arabic word Medina, a city.
The Shillah proper inhabit the whole range of the southern Atlas, the province of Sus, with that of the Ha-ha, and extend southward to the oasis of Tafilet, though there Arab and Shillah (Berber) tribes live close beside each other.
Place-names to which the word Ait (i.e., Ben or Mac) is prefixed, as Ait-Usi, Ait-Atta, Ait-M’tuga, etc., indicate that the district is inhabited by a Berber tribe.
I subjoin a short list of words, written down whilst detained in Kintafi, but without pretending to their absolute correctness, as my knowledge of Arabic (our means of communication) is very slight, and nothing is more difficult than to get uneducated men to repeat words, familiar, and therefore easy to themselves, several times over, so that a stranger may catch them. In order to show the entire dissimilarity of the two languages, I give the Arabic as well as the English equivalents.
Arabic. |
English. |
|
|
|
|
Athghroum |
Hobz |
Bread |
Aman |
El ma |
Water |
Araras |
T’rek |
Road |
Agmar |
Aoud |
Horse |
Asardoun |
Baralla |
Mule |
Ariyal |
Hamar |
Ass |
Adrar |
Gibel |
Mountain |
Anri |
Bir |
Well |
Asif |
Wad |
River |
Ergaz |
Rajel |
Man |
Tamaghrat |
M’raa |
Woman |
Afruch |
Oueld |
Son |
Tafrucht |
Bind |
Daughter |
Arroumi |
Nazrani |
Christian |
Tagartilt |
Hazira |
Mat |
Tifluth |
Bab |
Door |
Imaguru |
Sareuk |
Robber |
Whyh |
Eiwah |
Yes |
Oho |
Lawah |
No |
The language is, to my ear, not so guttural, but more nasal than the Arabic of Morocco. I think that a stranger, ignorant of both languages, would acquire Shillah more easily than Arabic. Like the Romany, or Calo, spoken in Spain, Shillah has been greatly corrupted by an admixture of the dominant tongue, so much so that the native verbs are largely lost, and their use supplemented by verbs taken from Arabic.
In writing, the Shillah use the Arab [288] character, and as far as is known, only one book, known as El Maziri, a compendium of the observances and ceremonies of the Mohammedan religion, has been written in the Shillah tongue.
The language abounds in the nasal gh, which may be rendered by an extremely nasal r, but which, like the Arabic h (Ha), is almost impossible to be learnt, except from someone acquainted with the proper pronunciation, as no written directions explain the peculiar sound.
Many treatises on Shillah, Kayble, and Tamashek, and their differences and affinity, have appeared at different times, chiefly in French. Perhaps the best is that of the Marquis de Rochemontein, “Essai sur les rapports grammaticaux entre l’Egyptien et le Berbere,” Paris, 1876. Leo Africanus also asserts the affinity of the two tongues.
APPENDIX B
The author addressed the two following letters to the Daily Chronicle and the Saturday Review when detained at Kintafi. The freedom which he now enjoys having brought with it a form of mind more fitting to an ideal captive, he now doubts whether he would not have done better to have addressed his two letters to the Record and the Rock. Nevertheless he publishes his letters, hoping that an intelligent, and no doubt idealistic public will discern in them that resignation, trust in a higher power (as Turkey), hope, charity, or whatever is proper, that in such circumstances ought to have been found in such letters.
“Thelata el Jacoub, Kintafi,
“Atlas Mountains,
“22nd October, 1897.“The Editor, Daily Chronicle, London.
“Sir—It appears that like St. Paul I am destined to be in prisons oft. Whilst endeavouring to cross the Atlas into the almost unknown province of Sus, I was arrested by the Governor of this province on October 19th, and have been detained here on various pretexts ever since. To-night one of our followers is to gird up his loins, tighten his turban, take his staff in his hand, pull up the heels of his shoes, testify to the existence of the one God, and strike across the hills to place this ‘copy’ in the hands of the British Vice-Consul at Mogador, about two hundred miles away.
“Though we are civilly treated, our position is the reverse of pleasant. We are allowed to walk about, but we cannot go far from our tent, and we have no idea why we are detained. I spare you any remarks on the flora and fauna of the district, for Inshallah, I propose to inflict them on a harmless and much book-ridden public. I merely state briefly that this house, an immense castle built of mud, is situated in an amphitheatre of hills, all capped with snow, and that a brawling river, the Wad N’fiss, runs past our tent; goats wander in the hills, tended by boys wild as their ancestors, whom Jugurtha led against the Romans. Horses and mules are driven down to drink by negro slaves, prisoners clank past in chains, knots of retainers armed with six-foot guns stroll about carelessly, pretending to guard the place; it is, in fact, Arcadia grafted on feudalism, or feudalism steeped in Arcadia. The call to prayers rises five times a day; Allah looks down, and we sit smoking cigarettes, waiting for you to turn your mighty lever on our behalf.
“For my companion in adversity I have a Syrian Christian, who acts as my interpreter, and who writes this for reasons known to you. Should Britain fail us, we hope that that great prince, the Sultan Abdul Hamid (God hath given him the victory), will send his fleet to our assistance, for, as we know, each of his Christian subjects is as a portion of his heart.
“Things look a little serious, as we are quite uncertain how long the Governor may keep us here. Therefore, I hope that this may go into your best edition, and be the means of making the Foreign Office act at once on our behalf, if we are not released.
“Yours faithfully,
“R. B. Cunninghame Graham.“P.S.—Pray assure the public that we shall steadfastly refuse to abjure our faith.”
Having thus done all in my power to invoke the protection of the Nonconformist Conscience (powerful amongst the noble Shillah race) for myself, and that of his Sultan for Lutaif, I recollected a business engagement, and wrote the following letter to excuse myself for non-completion of contract. I have ever held contracts as the most sacred of all the affairs of life.
“Thelata el Jacoub, Kintafi,
“Atlas Mountains,
“22nd October, 1897.“The Editor, Saturday Review.
“Sir—It will, I fear, be impossible for me to review the work called the Canon, about which I spoke to you. I hope, therefore, that you will place it in competent hands, for it is a well-written and curious book. You know that, as a general rule, I am reluctant to undertake reviewing, but in this case I should have been glad to make an exception to my usual practice.
“Before reviewing a book, I like to place a copy of it upon my table, and, after looking carefully at the outside of it, peruse the preface, glance at the title-page, read the last paragraph, and then fall to work. On this occasion, title and last paragraph, even the preface (which I understand is worthy of consideration), are beyond my reach. Not to be prolix, I may explain that for the last four days I have been a prisoner in the Atlas Mountain, at the above address, and that there seems no speedy prospect of my release. For details see the Daily Chronicle, to which I have addressed a letter, with one to our Ambassador at Tangier, which will, I hope, arrive some day, for when night falls our messenger is to endeavour to cross the hills to Mogador, our nearest post-town, some two hundred miles away, and to inform the Consul of our case.
“I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
“R. B. Cunninghame Graham.”
APPENDIX C
The following article appeared in the Saturday Review, and may serve to show one of the elements of difficulty against which I had to contend. Quite naturally, the country people thought that I was a filibuster.
The Voyage of the “Tourmaline.”
The southern province of Morocco—that which extends from Agadhir-Ighir to the Wad Nun—is called the Sus. Hanno is said to mention it in his famed Periplus. The Romans knew it vaguely. Suetonius may or may not refer to it when he speaks of a rich province below the Atlas; but his work is lost, and what remains comes down to us through Pliny, who himself laments the Romans took so little trouble to explore the coast. Polybius wrote of it; but what Polybius knew about the Sus is left so vague, that renowned, grave, arm-chair geographers have almost come to blows about it, as men of literature have done as to the whereabouts of Popering-at-the-Place.
Pliny certainly saw the lost writings of King Juba, and in them he met the word Asana. This Asana is conjectured (again by wise and reverend men) to have been “perhaps” Akassa, the Berber name of the Wad Nun. So that the ancients do not help us much to any knowledge of the Sus. Marmol and Leo Africanus talk of the province; but neither of them saw it, though Leo penetrated to Tamaglast, a village near Marakesh, supposed by some to be the hamlet now called Fruga. Thus little was known about the province, although travellers from Europe, as Arab writers tell us, visited the capital Tarudant, coming by Agadhir, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, for purposes of trade.
All sorts of legends thus sprang up about the place: demons inhabited it; a mountain spoke; magicians not a few lived near the Wad Nun; La Caba, the daughter of Count Julian, who brought the infidel to Spain, was buried in Tarudant, as the legend says; and everything throughout North Africa, strange and miraculous, occurred in Sus. Rich mines were there—gold, silver, and “diamont,” iron, tin, and antimony, with manganese and copper; the people were the most honest, wildest, wisest, and most ferocious in the world; great ruined castles, known to the natives as “Kasbah el Rumi,” were dotted here and there, though who the “Romans” were no one could tell, but probably they filled the place of the “Moros,” who, as is well known, built all houses, towers, and buildings, of whatever nature, which exceed a hundred years in age throughout all Spain.
Coming to more modern times, in 1791, the Sultan sent to the Governor of Gibraltar for a doctor to cure his son, at that time governor in the province of the Sus. An Army surgeon called Lemprière was chosen, and, disembarking at Agadhir, journeyed to Tarudant. As far as anything is known, he is the first European who entered Tarudant since the sixteenth century, when it is certain that merchants from Holland used to journey to the annual fair. He crossed the Atlas from Bibouan to Imintanout (by the same pass, in fact, which I attempted in last October), and arrived in safety at Mogador. He gives us little or no information about the Sus, but vaguely speaks of mines, says that the country about Tarudant was fertile and well cultivated, and describes the pass he crossed as skirting along tremendous precipices, which, to my certain knowledge, is not the case.
After him comes Jackson, who published his account of the Empire of Morocco in 1809. Ball, in his appendix to Hooker’s “Morocco and the Great Atlas,” refers to Jackson’s book as being the most copious ever written about the Sus. Certainly he had special advantages, for he passed sixteen years in Mogador and Agadhir (now closed to trade), spoke Arabic and Shillah, but all he says does not amount to much. The map he made Ball considers inferior to that of Chenier, published a hundred years before his time. And so of Admiral Washington, Gerhard Rohlfs, Gate11, and Oskar Lenz. They all say little, for the good reason little is known. Although the last three travellers passed through the land, they went disguised, in terror of their lives, and are believed to have known little or no Arabic. So that it comes to this: All that we know with certainty is that a province called the Sus exists, that it stretches from close to Agadhir to the Wad Nun, a distance of some two hundred miles, with a varying breadth of about seventy at the north, where it is bounded by the Atlas mountains, the Wad Sus, and the province of the Ha-ha to a hundred or more at the extreme south, as no one knows how far the boundaries of the province stretch up the waters of the river Nun.
Round about Agadhir the country has been visited, and is reported to be very like the provinces of Shiadma and the Ha-ha, which bound it to the north, that is, it is in general configuration flat and sandy, with stretches here and there of reddish argillaceous soil, but both soils greatly grown over with thorny bushes, and here and there well cultivated. Politically the province owns the Sultan of Morocco’s sway, but his authority extended lately but to Tarudant, the district called Taserouelt, in which is situated the Zowia of Si Hamed O’Musa, now represented by Sidi Haschem, and to the great Arab tribe of the Howara who occupy the country between Fonti and Tarudant. Up to the banks of the Wad Nun, where there are Arab tribes again (but wild and independent of the Sultan), most of the inhabitants of the country are of the Berber race. This race, the original inhabitants of the country before the Arab conquest, has never been entirely conquered, and between them and the Arab conquerors a strong enmity exists.
The chief trade of the province has always been with Mogador since the port of Agadhir was closed by the great-grandfather of the present Sultan. It consists of wool and camels’ hair, goat-skins and hides, bees’ wax, a little gold dust, ostrich feathers, gum-arabic, cattle and sheep, almonds, and all the products of the Sahara, for most of the trade from the western portion of that district comes to Mogador. In return, they take Manchester goods, powder, tea, sugar, cheap German cutlery, and all the wonders which human nature has to suffer to produce, and enrich the manufacturers of Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Liège, Roubaix, and the like in turning out. So thus the situation briefly stood.
A province, large and wealthy, the mouth of trade with the Sahara, supposed to contain rich mines, though on this head nothing is known with certainty, except that a little copper is worked near Tarudant, though the natives say gold, silver, iron, and magnetic ironstone exists; fertile in climate, thickly populated, and ill affected to its ruler; fanatical and largely swayed by a sort of general Witanegemot known as the “Council of the Forty,” and yet the population bound to get all supplies of European goods through the one port of Mogador.
Many and various have been the attempts to open trade direct. Pirates and filibusters, and traders with a moral sense of what was due to civilisation and to themselves, had all attempted many times to supply the poor heathen with their European trash, but never with success. Sometimes they landed, were taken prisoners, and a “diplomatic question” was superinduced until they were released. At other times they disappeared on landing and were never heard of, but still reports poured into Mogador of the great riches of the Sus. These riches to my mind are non-existent, for I have known hundreds of Susi traders, merchants, camel-drivers, tribesmen, “saints” and acrobats, from Taserouelt, but never saw a Susi who was rich.
In general, I found them tall, thin, dark-coloured men, very intelligent, fanatical, great travellers, petty traders; now and then ostrich hunters, and sometimes slave-dealers, but all were poor, although when asked they always talked about gold-mines and the riches of their land, and showed an evident desire that the various ports along the coast should be left open for European trade.
Then came the death, about four years ago, of the late Sultan Mulai-el-Hassan (may God have pardoned him!), and the disturbances consequent on the accession of a minor to the throne. The Susis without doubt thought the time suitable for movement, and no doubt hoped to be independent, and to buy powder, tea, and sugar and cotton goods, without the trouble of coming up to Mogador. Rebellions more or less partial took place throughout the province, and were subdued.
About two years ago, in Mogador, appeared one Captain Geyling, a Jewish Austrian subject, who, by some means or another, got into communication with certain discontented chiefs, whom he induced to sign a treaty with him to open up a port, start trade with the interior, work the mines, and generally to allow the country to be brought under the humanising influence of European trade. This done, he straight repaired to London, and tried to form a company, but found out, as Lydgate did before him, that “lacking money he mighte never speede.”
Then came a hiatus, which perhaps some of the gentlemen who planked their money down may like to fill up for the benefit of those who take an interest in unofficial efforts to extend the shadow of our flag.
We next find Captain Geyling back in Morocco, dressed in a single-breasted black frock-coat and fez, and turned in the interval into a pseudo-Turk under the title of Abdul Kerim Bey. Here history says, as the advance agent of the Globe Venture Syndicate he travelled like a prince, taking as many tents as would befit a travelling menagerie, plate and more plate, servants and horses, mules, guns, presents for the Kaids, and impelled by a consuming thirst to get concessions for his paymasters. With him as military adviser, attaché, or what not, went Major Spilsbury, and why he let himself be towed about the place by Geyling only he can tell.
Quiet but determined, a linguist, leader of men, and one of those willing to risk his life ten times a day for any syndicate, upon most reasonable terms, Spilsbury was a born filibuster. Always about to make a fortune with schemes innumerable, in which if you embarked you still stayed poor, or became poorer; but with this difference from the schemes of most men of his class, that he himself was never richer by a penny by any one of them. Geyling had said he knew the Sultan well, and as that potentate was somewhere in the south, Geyling proceeded north and waited upon the Sherif of Wazan, the spiritual head of all things in Morocco. There he seems not to have had much luck, and then went east to Fez, back to the coast, and after two or three months’ perambulation up and down the land, went to Morocco city, where he ought to have gone first. There neither Sultan nor Vizir would see him, and with his tail between his legs, he returned to Mogador, and in a little inn kept by a Jew quarrelled with Spilsbury, who, if reports be true, threatened to beat him with a stirrup leather, and the companionship broke up. Geyling Kerim went homewards to Vienna, Novi Bazaar, or for all I know joined his repatriated co-religionists in their new colony in Palestine. But Spilsbury, being apparently determined to play things out “on a lone hand,” remained in Mogador, and then embarked upon a series of adventures, the more extraordinary when one remembers that he speaks no Arabic.
How, wherefore, in what manner, or by what means, he came across him I do not know, but he fell in with an acquaintance of my own, one Mr. Ratto, born in Mogador, and speaking Arabic, and Shillah, French, English, Spanish and apparently all other tongues with equal ease. What actually they did, only themselves are in a position to record, but I suppose that, taking advantage of the unsettled state of things, the Sultan’s absence punishing refractory tribes, and the desire which every Arab chief has of getting arms to make himself quite independent of all mankind, they must have entered into negotiations with some of the chiefs of the wild tribes in Sus. Spilsbury seems to have satisfied the Syndicate in London that they could trade direct with Sus, receive concessions from the chiefs, land and construct a factory, and in time make themselves sole masters of the place. No doubt they reasoned: If we are once established, when troubles come, England must for her honour protect her subjects, and in protecting them, protect their interests, and they knew that England once committed to interference in any country (said to be rich), must of necessity remain to restore order, introduce good government, and generally to further the cause of progress and morality, which is specially her aim in every country peopled by an inferior race. What treaty Spilsbury took home is matter of conjecture, but not unlikely he got signatures from chiefs, who signed, thinking if all went well they would gain something, and if things turned out badly they could say they had been deceived, and signed a document that they had not understood. One name is certain was appended to the deed, that of M’barek-ou-Ahmed, who is now securely chained in some pestilential prison in Fez or Mequinez. Be all that as it may, Spilsbury was shortly back again in Mogador, trying to hire a vessel to convey himself, a Jew interpreter, and several samples of his goods down to Akssis, a port between Wad Nun and Agadhir. But by this time the Sultan had got wind of the affair, and sent his emissaries into the Sus to bribe the chiefs into allegiance, and what is more he had communicated with the English Ambassador in Tangier, who having sent the news to London, the expedition and its aim was laid before the Foreign Office. Presently an official notice appeared declaring that the British Government viewed with concern the meditated attempt to open trade with a part of the Emperor of Morocco’s territory against his will, and if any person went for such a purpose, he must go at his own risk. Spilsbury probably cared nothing for the protection or the displeasure of either Government, so he pushed on his preparations just as if nothing had occurred worth mentioning.
The ukase of the British Government had made it difficult to operate from Mogador, but Spilsbury, nothing dismayed, engaged a Jew interpreter, and all alone, or at the most with two or three companions, sailed for the Canaries, hired or bought a schooner, and after a passage of an abnormal length, contending all the time with contrary winds, sailed to Akssis, landed, and started to palaver with the chiefs who were expecting him, with several thousand men encamped upon the shore, having been warned most probably by Mr. Ratto to hold themselves in readiness against his coming.
Nothing more different than the inception of the Jameson affair and that so boldly planned by Spilsbury. Both gentlemen adventurers, or if you like, both advance agents of the British Empire. One flagwagging and backed up by all the “fruit secs” of the British army, champagne and sandwiches laid on at every twenty miles upon the road; the other almost alone upon a coast not visited twice in a century by Europeans, and in the hands of men who kill a man with as few compunctions as a settler up in North Queensland flogs a black to death. If he had goods to sell I know not, if he had samples of trade powder and trade guns, that is to me unknown, but anyhow, by the assistance of his interpreter, he entered into a council with certain of the chiefs, as the Sherif of Taserouelt, the aforenamed M’barek-ou-Ahmed, and others whom it is better not to name, and was about to sign a treaty with them, to open trade direct, put up a factory, work the mines, and generally prepare the way before the faces of the Globe Venture Syndicate.
But for an accident Spilsbury might have been Emperor of Agadhir, the Lord Protector of the Sus, or Rajah of Tamagrut, but Fate or the Sultan of Morocco had otherwise disposed.
Most of the chiefs of Sus were at Akssis with many of their followers, but one Sheikh with about fifty horsemen had kept aloof during the progress of the negotiations, either because he had not been considered big enough to square, or as some think because he was secretly acting under orders from the Moorish Court.
Just as the chiefs were about to sign, and each one had agreed how many rifles he was to receive on Spilsbury’s return with a well-laden ship, the Sheikh mounted his horse, marshalled his followers and plunged into the middle of the crowd, yelling and firing several shots, exclaiming: “Out with the Christians! I will not be a party to any dealings with our hereditary foes.” Thinking they were attacked in force, the followers of the other chiefs returned the fire, all was confusion, and Spilsbury, to save his life, had to retreat precipitately on board his ship, and to complete the scene, the smoke of a steamboat was seen coming down the coast. Now, as no vessels between Agadhir and the Wad Nun come near the coast, which is one of the most deserted in the world, Spilsbury knew at once it must be a vessel of the Moorish Government upon the search for him. Luckily night was near, and a fair wind sprang up which took him to the Canaries, from whence he shipped aboard a steamer and returned to England to plan another trip.
What actually he did in England during the next six months I do not know, but in November I met him at a London club, the proud possessor of the steam yacht “Tourmaline,” carrying a quick-firing gun, an assorted cargo of goods fit for the Morocco trade, and some nine thousand rifles with which he intended to arm his friends, the followers of Sidi Haschem, and the other Sheikhs of Sus. The vessel lay at Greenhithe, and was to sail next morning for Antwerp to take the rifles in; yet Spilsbury sat smoking quietly without a trace of “Union Jackism,” no word of “moral purpose,” not a suggestion of being, as Dr. Jameson seemed to think he was, a sort of John of Leyden going to set a people free. Simply an ordinary club man, talking of what he was about to do, as he had talked of fishing in Loch Tay. A well-dressed, quiet-mannered filibuster, not bellowing that he would make the Arabic language popular in Hell, after the “fighting Bob Tammany” style, but quite aware that he was venturing his life, and perilling for ever such reputation as he had. As a law-abiding citizen, I tried to show him all the error of his ways, spoke of the wickedness of all he was about to do, and watched him get into a cab with mingled feelings of disgust at the peddling syndicate which, for its wretched five per cent., was about to bring the name of England into contempt, and admiration for the man who was going quietly to risk his life in such a miserable cause.
How he sailed, reached Akssis, landed some rifles, was interrupted in his dealings by the arrival on the one hand of the Sultan’s troops under Kaid el Giluli, and on the other by the advent of the Moorish Government’s armed transport, “El Hassani”; how he exchanged shots with her, rescued his boat, but failed to save his four companions who remained captives; and how he with the yacht Tourmaline is still detained, or was up to the other day, under surveillance in Gibraltar, is well known to all. But what befel his four companions and the unfortunate M’barek-ou-Ahmed, his intermediary, has never been made public in this country yet. So, to make matters plain, I quote the letter of a French Algerian gentleman settled in Mogador:—
“Vous me demandez des nouvelles de The Globe Venture Cie, c’est bien une aventure que les bondholders Anglais ne goberont pas facilement. Vous savez que le commandant en chef, Major Spilsbury, est arrivé à Akssis entre Agadhir et Wad Nun, et là il a débarque 500 fusils, 100 caisses cartouches, 4 balles cotonnades, 25 caisses thé, etc.
“Le Major a eu le bon esprit de rester à bord, mais a fait débarquer un jeune Anglais, le second du bord, un allemand comptable, un Juif interprète, et un marin portugais. Voilà un bouillabaisse! Enfin ils se sont établi sous trois tentes sur la plage, avec le Sheikh avec qui le Major avait fait connaissance chez M. Pepe Ratto, et huit ou dix Arabes de l’endroit. Après deux jours la frégate ‘El Hassani’ de sa Majesté Chérifienne est arrivée, en même temps le Kaid El Giluli arrive par terre avec 500 cavaliers, entoure les tentes et toute la boutique est prise. Il y a eu quelque coups de fusils, deux hommes du Major (Arabes) sont blessés, la Tourmaline s’éloigna vers Lanzarote, les quatre Européens et le Juif sont pris, aussi que le chef Arabe (M’barek-ou-Ahmed) avec vingt de ses amis, et l’aventure est fini.
“Les Arabes ont été conduit au Sultan qui les a envoyé avec chaines se pourrir dans les prisons de Fez, et les quatre Européens sont depuis près de trois mois dans la maison du Kaid el Giluli à Ha-Ha, a savourer la Shisha (vous en connaissez le gout oh Sheikh Mohamed el Fasi), en attendant les ordres de Sidna. . . . Le pauvre Sheikh, M’barek-ou-Ahmed, n’avait aucune influence sur les tribus, et il ne marcha que sur la promesse que les ‘fregatas Inglise’ viendront débarquer des soldats anglais, le pays sera pris, on fera du Sheikh un Kaid, et cela accompagné de cent dollars, 20 livres de thé, et un sac de sucre, et le pauvre Sheikh a eu l’eau (et le thé) a la bouche.
“Un soldat qui avait conduit les prisonniers au Sultan, a dit, que sur la route, le pauvre Sheikh disait tout le temps, ‘Oh, le Nazrani m’a trompé, ce sont des trompeurs les chrétiens, il m’avait promis que des frégates et des soldats anglais avec des canons débarqueront, et aux premier coup de fusil, son bateau s’est sauvé; par Dieu, ce chrétien doit être un juif! mais c’était écrit, Allah Ackbar.’”
R. B. Cunninghame Graham.
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NOTES.
[x] “And Jesus said, Truth is from heaven; Pilate answered, Therefore truth is not on earth” (Gospel of Nicodemus, chap. iii., verses 12 and 13).
[2] Since writing this it has been shown that he has more authority in the Sus than was thought, as witness the landing of the Globe Venture Company’s filibusters, which was promptly checked.
[3a] “Taleb” literally means a learned man, but in Morocco it is applied to everyone who can read and write, in fact, as the Spaniards say, “sabe de pluma”; my “taleb” did not fall under the latter head, being a learned man, and a gentleman.
[3b] I had to give up this as I spoke little Arabic and no Turkish, and as I looked rather like a Moor from Fez, finally called myself Sheikh Mohammed el Fasi; but I fear few were taken in by that name.
[5] The Toledan dialect is the old Spanish of the Jews, who were expelled from Spain. They speak the Spanish of the sixteenth century, using the X instead of J, and with other peculiarities. They inhabit the towns of Tetuan, Tangier, Alcazar, Arzila, Larache, and Rabat, and are the highest caste Jews of Morocco. The Jews of the interior speak Arabic, come from the East, and are in general of a lower type.
[6] Coge mas berengenas que un hortelano Morisco.
[8] Luccos is the El Kuos of the Arabs, and the Luxos of the Romans.
[9] “Empeño” means “a job.” The phrase is well understood throughout the Spains, and the practice much indulged in.
[11] The Germans are slowly but surely driving us out of the coast trade in Morocco. It may well be said of them that they are conquering the world with the trombone and the ophicleide, as the Romans did with the pick and shovel. Where these “bummel bands” once get a footing, their empire and all that, is sure to follow.
[12a] The Moriscos went to Tetuan, Fez, and Rabat, and in consequence the upper classes of all these cities are fairer in colour and more enlightened in mind than those of any other city of Morocco.
[12b] The others are Fez, Marakesh, and Mequinez. The system of an ambulatory capital also obtained formerly in Bolivia.
[13] Once looking at a steamer coming up London docks in a thick fog, I said to an aged shell-back standing near, “She looks very large somehow,” and received the answer, “Well, she do loom lofty in the mist.”
[14] Manigua is the Cuban name for a tropical forest.
[15a] Tagir means a merchant and is a highly honourable title in Mohammedan countries where the feudal system never made trade be looked down upon. “Caballer,” i.e. Caballero, is a more modern and, so to speak, gentleman-like appellation.
[15b] Perhaps a kind of Plica Polonica, or perhaps the “scald” of the Middle Ages, as when Chaucer says to his scribe who did not correct his proofs, “Under they long lockes mayst thou have the scald.”
[15c] Taifa is the Arabic word for a company or following. It is generally applied contemptuously, as in the phrase “Reyezuelos de Taifas,” used by the Spaniards during the time the Moors were in Spain to designate the Kings of Almeria, Ocsonoba, Huesca, and other small Principalities.
[16] Celestina, Tragi-Comedia de Calisto y Melibea por Rodrigo de Cota, Juan de Mera or some one else unknown.
[17a] This may serve to illustrate the retrograde condition of medicine in Mohammedan countries. Who would welcome the return of a doctor in a European country?
[17b] A sherif is a more or less authentic descendant of the Prophet. They occupy a semi-religious semi-political position, and are as numerous as the “ancestors came over with the Conqueror” people in England.
[18] Jehad—religious war—generally applied to a war entered into from self-interest, as that of the United States against Spain.
[20a] For the last two hundred years the Franciscans have had missions in the coast towns of Morocco. They, at present, confine their labours to the Spanish population. The vineyard is stony. Formerly they worked amongst the captives. Your captive generally is inclined to listen to a friar or to any one else who will talk to him. The late Prefect of the Franciscans in Tangier, Father Lerchundi, was a most erudite man, having composed many treatises on the Arabic language, which he knew perfectly. At his funeral, Jews, Christians, Moors, and other mutually described infidels, turned out in great numbers, and for a brief space the “Odium Theologicum” was laid aside, and the cross, the crescent, and the other symbols of the three jarring faiths went up the main street of Tangier in seeming amity.
[20b] The Protestant missionaries in Morocco are almost all Scotchmen. I have received unfailing kindness from all of them, whether as a Protestant or a Scotchman, I do not know.
[22] Morality from mores, customs; therefore, as the customs of all nations are different, so is their theory of morality.
[26] Shortly before we left Tangier, my interpreter, Mr. Lutaif, took a man out of the prison who had been five days without food. His offence was the possession of a good Djellaba (hooded cloak) and fifteen dollars.
[27] Santa Maria la Blanca
[28] Elizabeth Fry never ceased remonstrances against the silent and solitary plan. In a communication sent to M. de Beranger, of Paris, she urges, under the 7th head, “the impossibility of fitting the prisoners for returning to society under the system.”
[29a] It was from Azimur that one of the companions of Alvar Nuñez came, in his captivity in Florida, for he says, “el quarto era negro alarabe de Azimur, se llamaba Estebanico.” The Moors call the place Mulai Bushaib.
[29b] The Cofre de Perote, in Mexico, is also box-like in appearance, as the name indicates.
[30a] Djellaba is the hooded garment shaped like a sack, much worn in Morocco, and apparently of Berber origin, as it is unknown in other Arab countries.
[30b] A Zowia is the house and district of some Sheikh or Sherif.
[30c] Wad, in Morocco, means river. It is the same word as the Egyptian Wadi, a dry valley. It appears in many Spanish names of places, as Guadalquivir, Guadalimar, Guadarrama, etc.
[32] Shluoch is the Arabic name for the Southern Berbers, i.e. of the Atlas and the Sahara; Shluoch, in Arabic, means “cast out,” and the language is called Shillah, in Arabic. The Shluoch call themselves Amazcright, i.e. the noble people. This difference of opinion as to nomenclature has been observed in other nations.
[36] Abdul Kerim means slave of the Merciful, merciful, of course, being an attribute of Allah.
[37] The Sultan of Morocco is called His Shereefian Majesty, as being a shereef, i.e., descended from the Prophet.
[38] Pelo en pecho—hair on the chest, by inference a brave man, or man of action.
[39a] Events proved that I was right, and almost as I was writing news came that Major Spilsbury, in The Tourmaline, had tried to land at Asaka again, and had been repulsed by the Sultan’s troops, and exchanged shots with the Moorish armed transport, The Hassam.
Four of his men were taken prisoners, several of the friendly Arabs were killed, and many others, including the Sheikh Neharek-ou-Ahmed, were sent in chains to linger in the prisons of Fez and Mequinez; Major Spilsbury was detained some time at Gibraltar, and the whole result of the expedition was that the reputation of England was much damaged in Morocco, and the country rendered still more difficult of access than before. I do not hear that those who fitted out the expedition have suffered in any way except by loss of money, but that is, probably, the only kind of loss they could ever feel.
[39b] There being no P in Arabic, the Arabs use B precisely as if they were inhabitants of “Botzen and Bosen.”
[40] Mr. Sassoon was reported to be interested in the venture.
[41] “El N’zrani kulshi flus” is a common saying in Morocco.
[44] I will be glad to give names in full to anyone who will take up the poor devil’s case.
[46a] Sidi M’Doul is said to have been a Scotch sailor who became a Moor, and after his death, a saint. Be this as it may, from the saint’s name Europeans have made the name Mogador, which is never used by the Moors, who call the town Sueira, the picture.
[46b] Tajin literally means “the dish.” It is generally a greasy stew of mutton, soaked with rancid butter and saffron, and seasoned with asafoetida.
[46c] Couscousou is a kind of dry porridge made of grated wheat, stewed, and served up with mutton or chicken, and pieces of boiled pumpkin.
[47] “Mas vale salto de mata que ruegos de hombres buenos,” goes the adage in Spanish, and it is one that most sensible men will endorse.
[48] Mellah is the word used to designate a Jewry in Morocco. Literally it means Salt, and I have never heard any explanation of the term, but the salt has not lost its savour, as any traveller not suffering from rhinitis can testify.
[49a] Pagar y apelar.
[49b] “Viva la gallina con su pepita.”
[50] “Outpost of Progress,” Cosmopolis, June, 1897. Story of an outpost of Progress told without heroics and without spread-eagleism, and true to life; therefore unpopular, if indeed, like most other artistic things it has not passed like a “ship in the night.”
[52] The Argan Tree, the Elcedendron Argan of some and the Argania Sideroxylon of other commentators, for botanists like doctors often disagree, seems to belong to the family of the Sapotaceæ. Its habitat is very limited, being apparently confined to the sandy district between Mogador and Saffi, in which it forms a dense wood stretching for forty miles. In habit it resembles an Acacia, being thorny, twisted in trunk and limbs, and able to survive the longest droughts without apparent suffering. It produces a nut about the size of an olive, from which an oil is extracted and used in cooking by the Moors. It is unpalatable to those Europeans who have never eaten a Turkey Buzzard.
[53] Gualichu is the god (or devil) of the Pampa Indians. At any rate, he is the spirit they propitiate by tying rags, cigars, pieces of hide, tin cups—or anything they may have useless enough to be offered to a deity—to its branches. The tree which I take to be a Chañar (Gurliaca Decorticans), though others, perhaps wiser than myself, say it is a Tala, stands on a little eminence, and is the only tree for leagues. Darwin remarked it and camped close by it, and it is known all over the South Pampa from Tandil to Patagones.
[55] Agadhir Ighir (Ighir means a fort in Shillah) was once held by the Spaniards, and called Santa Cruz. It is situated on a slight eminence near Cape Gher, has a tolerable port and is the natural outlet for the trade of the Sus, but it is closed to trade by order of the Sultan, and the merchants in Mogador do all they can to keep it closed, as they themselves depend much on trade with the same province. In the last century Agadhir had a flourishing trade with Europe, but the closing of the port killed the place, and there are now not above a thousand inhabitants. Amongst these there are a good many Jews, and it is reported that amongst these Jewish families there are to be found the handsomest women in Morocco. One regrets that there is no trade with Europe, on account of these daughters of Israel.
[56a] Rumi, Roman, is the polite word for a Christian. N’zrani or Nazarene is half-contemptuous.
[56b] Oulad el Haram.
[57] Ha-ha is the name of the province in which Mogador is situated; it is also the name of the tribe.
[61a] Suddra is the Zizyphus Lotus of botanists. It is extremely thorny, and is much used by the Arabs to make the enclosures known as “Zerebas” round their houses; when dry it takes a curious grey-blue tinge, very effective in certain lights. It is of this plant, I think, that the Soudanese make the temporary “Zerebas” round their camps, which on occasions have given so much trouble to our troops.
[61b] Selham is the hooded cloak worn as an outer garment; it is made of blue cloth or white wool. It is the “burnouse” of Algeria.
[63] This phrase often occurs in Spanish chronicles, after a long description of a man’s virtues, his charity, love of the Church, and kindness to the poor, and it is apparently inserted as at least as important a statement as any of the others. In point of fact, chronicles being written for posterity, it is the most important.
[64] “Drinking the shameful” is smoking tobacco, not drinking new whisky as in some civilised lands.
[65] I would not be taken here as wishing to disparage the prisons of my own country, or to insinuate that they are often empty.
[66] Reason, I fancy, filtered into man’s composition after the original plan was completed, and was maybe the work of the serpent.
[68] Others of his subjects admired his procedure so much that their catchword was reported to have been “Viva Fernando y vamos robando,” which after all, is but a practical application of the old Spanish aphorism “Viva el rey Baca la capa.”
[70] It is true that Herrick saw a certain beauty in our “Meadows,” or he would not have written the following stanza, but in his days there were no patent manures:
Ye have been fresh and green,
Ye have been filled with flowers;
And ye the walks have been
Where maids have spent their hours.
[71a] Difla in Arabic, from which the Spaniards have taken their word Adelfa, as from Dib, jackal, they have formed Adibe, Berk, a pond, Alberca and the like.
[71b] I.e., Roman is generally used by Arabs in North Africa when they wish to be civil to a Christian. “Caballer el rumi” has a pleasant sound, even when uttered by a man who, in his heart, thinks you a Christian dog.
[72] The Boukharis were first raised by Sultan Muley Ismael, one of the most powerful rulers the country has ever had; he flourished in the eighteenth century, and sent an ambassador to Louis XIV. to demand the hand of his daughter, which, perhaps through religious intolerance, or some other reason, was not accorded to him. The Boukharis were all negroes from the Soudan, who, belonging to no Arab tribe, were devoted to the person of the Sultan alone.
[74] John Law of Lauriston.
[75] Light chestnut in Spanish is “ruano”; the proverb says “Caballo ruano para las putas.” Query: Does that hold good of a mare?
[78] A tall peaked fez in Morocco is the outward visible sign of a soldier or man of the Mahksen, Government. From the Arabic word Mahksen, which is not used in other Arab-speaking countries in the sense of the Government, but simply as signifying a “Store,” comes the Spanish word “Almacen,” a store, and some say also our word, “magazine.” The inward spiritual grace is a swaggering demeanour to show the soundness of his faith, an insolence of manner not quite unknown among soldiers of other powers; and a firm determination to obtain for nothing, everything that the wretched “Pekin” has to pay for in the debased copper currency of the realm.
[80a] Tabieh, the “tapia” of the Spaniards and the “pisé” of the French, is merely mud run into frames till it hardens, and then left to dry in the sun. It figures in the saying “Sordo como una tapia,” deaf as a wall, and seems to be at variance with the northern proverb, “Walls have ears.”
[80b] Sheikh is a most indefinite word, and is generally held to mean a chief, but often only means gentleman. Scribes, especially if Easterns, i.e., from Syria, Damascus, or Bagdad, often use the title. Lutaif upon our journey figured as Sheikh Abdul Latif el Shami (the Syrian), and, when convenient, I was styled Sheikh Mohammed el Fasi, at other times simply “el Tabib” (the Doctor), sometimes “Sherif,” anything, in fact, to distract attention from my white face and extremely small knowledge of Arabic.
[81a] The usual system of storing grain is either in earthen jars buried in the ground, or in funnel-shaped pits known as “Metmoras,” from which word the Spanish word “Mazmora” has been taken, and from which we again took our old-fashioned word “Massymore,” used for a dungeon.
[81b] This tripod is used all over Spain, and called, in Andalusia, “Anafe,” from the Moorish words “En Nar fi,” the fire is in it.
[82] A Shegedef is a kind of long pannier in which the richer pilgrims lie or sit one on each side of a camel. There is an awning over all, and pilgrims have assured me that the pleasantest part of the whole journey is the portion which is performed in this manner.
[84] It is actually sold cheaper in Morocco than in Marseilles.
[86a] “The Madhna” may be a relic of phallic worship, many relics of which have lingered even at Mecca, as Burton, in his chapter on Mecca in his celebrated “Pilgrimage to Medinah and Mecca,” relates.
[86b] I offered him quinine, but he looked coldly at it as a man in the time of Molière might have disdained the futile drugs of the licensed practitioner knowing that he had orvietan at his command.
[88] The word Sherif is often rendered by Europeans, in Morocco, as Saint, they having most likely taken the word from the Spanish word Santon.
[90a] Ait corresponds to the Arab “Ibn” or “Ben,” and the Scotch “Mac.”
[90b] It was the Tuaregs who killed the French explorer, the Marquis de Mores, and they have killed many explorers of almost every European nation. From their habit of going veiled to protect themselves against the sun and dust in the desert, some have supposed that the mysterious “veiled men” referred to in the Spanish Chroniclers as having accompanied the Almohades in their invasion of Spain in 1146, were Tuaregs. The leader of the Almohades was Mohammed-ibn-Abdullah, King of Fez, or Morocco as some say, for the kingdoms were not joined in those days. In either case, he might have brought the Tuaregs. The word Almohade is said to mean Unitarian, a title of honour in lands where miscreants either reject or do not fear the doctrine of the Trinity.
[90c] Grüberg ’di Hemsõ. “Speechio Geographico e Statistico di Marocco,” page 72.
[91a] For list of Amzirght words collected at Gundaffi, see notes.
[91b] Mr. Walter Harris, in his Tafilet, says the word Shillah = noble, but he has probably been informed by a Berber. He also, after the fashion of most European travellers, “finds out immediately how infinitely superior they are (the Berbers) in morals and character to Arabs. Their every word and look speak of greater honesty and truth than one finds in a month amongst the Arabs” (“Tafilet,” p. 62). Certainly Mr. Harris has every right to speak, as few men know the mountaineers better than he does, and dressed in their clothes, his head shaved, and a string of camel’s hair bound round his forehead, bare feet and legs, and wrapped in a brown djellaba, he could pass anywhere for one of those moral and honest folk. I wish, though, that he had stated plainly what he understands by Shillah honesty and morality, for, as in theological discussions, the greatest difficulty is to define terms.
[92] He was born in Granada, and fled to Fez after the capture of Granada by the Catholic Kings. Being taken prisoner by Christian pirates, he was brought to Rome, received into favour by the Pope, was baptised, and died at Rome after translating his work on Africa into Italian.
[93] “Noble Shillah race” of modern travellers. “Moral and honest” folk of Mr. Harris, etc., etc.
[97] Estancia is the Argentine term used to denote a cattle farm. In Spain it is rarely or never used in such a sense, and the word Cortijo is the usual term for a farm.
[102a] Literally, Bastards.
[102b] El Gharb is a prairie territory stretching from Tangier to the river Sebu. The word Gharb means “the west,” and Algarve in Portugal was simply the west of that country. The word Trafalgar is compounded from Tarf, a headland, and El Gharb, the west.
[102c] Flus is a small copper coin, a donkeyload of which about makes change for a sovereign. It has come in Morocco to mean money generally, and was evidently so used in Spain under the Moorish domination, for I remember seeing a coin the inscription on which was “this flus was coined in Andalous”—i.e., Spain, which the Moor generally referred to as “Andalous.”
[103a] Noria is the Persian water-wheel, Naurah in Arabic, which literally means a machine, and as it probably was the greatest machine at the time of its invention (say B.C. 5,000), the name has remained.
[103b] Alcuza is an earthenware jar, fixed to the water-wheel, which empties itself as the wheel turns round.
[108] The Gauchos used to call a sore on a horse’s back “una flor,” a flower, and they certainly rode their horses no matter how red the “flower” was, as if their own withers were unwrung.
[109a] Malon was the word used on the Pampa to designate an Indian invasion. I put it to casuists if it was permissible on these occasions to ride a sore-backed horse, and still be called a humane man.
[109b] “Algaroba” is one of the words the Spaniards have taken from Arabic, the word in that language being “El Karoub” or as some spell it “El Keurroub.”
[112] “Aqui hay gato encerrado,” is the Spanish proverb in reference to anything which seems too good to be true.
[114] The Shillah’s black horse is now in the hands of Don Jose Miravent the Spanish Consul at Mogador, after having carried me all the journey. As to my grey horse I cannot say, nor yet be certain if there are birds in last year’s nests.
[115] “Maalem” literally means a “master” as a master carpenter, master smith, etc. In Morocco it is often used for a good rider who is said to be “Uahed Maalem.”
[117] “El Feyer” in Morocco is the call to prayers about three in the morning.