The pillars of Hercules

December 10th.

This morning Mustafa Ducaly sent me, by his man Selam, a “Dollond,” and a ladder, telling me to run to Hassan to see the Baïram, which was to be held on the downs to the south of the city, without the Caïd’s permission, and a guard was enjoined not to cross the threshold. Authorities and soldiers had all deserted the city. Selam sallied out in search of some one who should pass for a guard, and found a soldier belonging to Tangier who was familiar with Europeans. After passing the gate, I found myself for the first time at liberty to roam, and could not resist the temptation; so, instead of turning to the left towards the tower, we turned through the gardens to the right, hoping to get through the second wall, or to see the Baïram from it. We made for a huge gate, but on reaching it found it barred. The wall was about forty feet high, and in good repair: there were no staircases. All chance of getting a glimpse of the ceremony was now lost, and we rambled along through the gardens; but the ignorance of our elected guards, strangers, like ourselves, as to what was or was not taboo, was worse than the severity of our regular keepers. They were at every turn, doubting, fearing, warning, objecting. Our course was like that of a vessel feeling her way over sand-banks: one moment it was “starboard,” the next “hard-a-port.” “There it is bad,” would our pilot exclaim, and ever and anon we were laid all aback, with the “breakers ahead” of “Saint’s Tomb.” We worked on till we came to a gate in the wall facing the east, and issuing forth, beheld another city. This could be no other than the Shallah, of which we had heard so often, and from which spring-water was daily brought. Neither Christian nor Jew is allowed so much as to approach it. Profiting by the occasion, I hastened on before my companions’ fears could rally, or their remonstrances be urged.

The gate, or rather barbican (for the Moorish word is required to convey the Moorish thing), is peculiarly constructed and ornamented. The arch is the horse-shoe, pointed like the Gothic. The vivid colours and stuccos which elsewhere adorn the interiors here, as of Babylon and Ecbatana, are displayed outside;—the style is quaint and rich.

This city was in ruins before those buildings arose, which are considered the models of that style: the date of its fall is that of the erection of Westminster Hall,—itself the work of a pupil of the Saracens. The walls of the present city of Rabat, which signifies camp, stand on the lines of the camp of Jacob when he was besieging it.

Whilst I was making a sketch of the gate, the Moors came up beseeching me on their account not to enter; they proposed to go in and report: they soon came out, exclaiming, “Holy Place;” “Saints’ Tombs.” I cut the matter short by passing the portal and ascending a stair that led to the top of the gate. The prospect thence was enchanting: the ground broke away immediately in front as we looked eastward, the masses of red ruin cresting the heights on both sides, and running down to the river. Beyond spread the plain of emerald green, with the river meandering through it, and the landscape closed with long waves of sandhills of olive green on their summits and red and yellow on their broken faces. I saw not a soul, and was making myself merry with the fears of our conductors, when the alarm was sounded by the dogs, and presently two old men rushed at us, frantic with rage;—fortunately they had no arms.

Of our Moors, one only retained the faculty of speech. He endeavoured to explain that I had the Sultan’s permission, on which one of the old men (the other had gone to raise the hue and cry) became wilder than before. He would shoot the Sultan; the Sultan dared not give an order there, nor enter the place except with bare feet. The soldier threw his cap on the ground, knelt down, and jumped up; tried to kiss his head, his hands, his feet, his clothes. I left them so engaged, quietly returning towards Rabat. At the gate Selam overtook me, calling out, “Run, run! wild man gone for gun.” We had a fair start, but I could not condescend to hurry beyond a steady pace: Selam relieved himself by mumbling dismal sounds close to my ear, in his broken English: “You bring me and other Moors into trouble; I do your bidding instead of master’s and Sultan’s, and be at Baïram in my new clothes. I be shot outside like a dog, or flogged inside like a Jew.” At every moment we expected to meet a crowd returning, for the old fanatic, on reaching the town, could raise the people upon us in an instant. However, the distance was soon traversed, and before he hove in sight we had reached the gate. It was locked! We then hastened along the wall to the right, expecting to get in by the next gate—there was none! We came to the steep edge of the river, and there we were completely hemmed in. At that moment, our pursuers, now consisting of several armed men, came in sight; when a boat with soldiers and horses shoved up close in shore, to drop down the current to Salee.

Our Moors hailed them; they pushed in; we scrambled down, and leaping on board, shoved off, and were out of hail—or at least speaking distance—before our pursuers reached the bank. They durst not fire, and there being no other boat, they ran back to get in by the Baïram-gate, so as to intercept us before we could be re-shipped back from Salee. In the meantime, we espied a boat belonging to a Portuguese schooner: we hailed it, got on board of it, and were speedily landed and housed at the consulate. The soldier made off to Salee, vowing never to set eyes on Rabat again, and Selam, enjoining profound secrecy, hastened to his master, whom he found with the Caïd. Scarcely had he told his story when the people from Shallah appeared. Fortunately, everybody was busy with his own affairs, and the Caïd succeeded in appeasing all; but this evening there has been great excitement in the city, and I am told that I shall have to be conveyed privately out of Rabat. However, like the Russian expedition of 1833 to the Bosphorus, to the satisfaction of having got into, I have to add that of having got out of, Shallah.

What an extraordinary thing to see a people thus ignorant, and yet thus devoted to the vestiges of their antiquity: sanctifying spots untenanted for scores of generations—taking the shoes from off their feet when they press them, and ready to sacrifice to the manes of the departed the stranger who disturbs their long repose!

The Baïram has passed off most happily: the day was splendid; the gathering and the presents satisfactory to the Emperor. He condescended to tell the people of Rabat that they were wholly forgiven; that the choice they had made, proved them to be wise and just in all their ways; that he had not ratified their choice because they had made it, but because it was the best that could be made; and that, though young in years, their Caïd was old in wisdom. The Sultan has also released a former governor of Salee, and sent a pardon to a son of the late Sultan, his uncle, who has been four years in irons at Mequinez. The disgrace yesterday of Hamuda has proved a golden opportunity for him. The firing of his regiment with two pieces, was quicker than that of the other with their ten. The Sultan went up to him and complimented him, saying, “God prosper you;” upon which all the grandees did the same. Mustafa has also come in for his share of good things. Eight field-pieces which he had offered as a present, were refused as such, in these words; “I want you to become fat and not lean, because you are my friend, and now I make you the head and master of the merchants of Morocco.” The ladies of the harem have not, however, been equally scrupulous, and have made no difficulty in receiving the keepsakes he has brought them from Europe, consisting, among other things, of dresses of brocade at twenty guineas a yard.

The afternoon was spent in receiving visitors, among whom was the admiral of Salee in a gorgeous Algerine costume. He is also captain of the port and pilot, and the representative of the first family of the empire, Muley Idris, its first founder, who is also one of the chief living saints. Four of this family are bound to compliment the Emperor on the Baïram; they had come for that purpose, carrying with them the offerings of the capital. Two of these accompanied the saint, and presented the strongest contrast that could be imagined with the fanatics from whose balls and daggers we had just before escaped. They were affable, curious, facile, and lively: they had never seen the sea before, and admired it like children. They explained their visit by saying they wanted to know what a Christian was like, never having seen one. When I told them about Leo Africanus and El Edressi, the geographers who on the fall of the dynasty had taken refuge in Sicily, where his history was written, they were exceedingly delighted. They invited me to Fez; and when I spoke of the difficulties of a Christian going there, they declared they would answer for me with their heads. They spend to-morrow in attendance on the Sultan; the day following they are to repeat their visit here.

I must not omit another important personage, no less than the Sultan’s buffoon: this, indeed, is the third visit I have received from him, and each time he has carried away two or three bottles under his girdle, besides one in his sack. He has a good voice, and a wonderful stock of strange songs, and is an admirable mimic. I have heard him mingle together the muezzin chant, from the minaret, with the cries of a European vessel getting under weigh. He is a compound of the zany, mimic, minion, bard, and bacchanal.

The strangeness of this people, instead of wearing off, increases with acquaintance—so much ease and facility at one moment, is followed by unexpected and unaccountable difficulties. The dramatic, not the speculative, man is strong in them. What can be more surprising, at this moment, than their total forgetfulness of the existence of France: how would it shock the pride of the victor to find that the defeated have already forgotten Isly and Mogadore! When I saw to-day the dense mass of the tens of thousands tranquilly performing their Baïram, I thought of the Greeks celebrating their Olympic games with the Persians at Thermopylæ.

However primitive Morocco may be in its customs, it has to be borne in mind that the convulsions which accompanied the rise, and more particularly the fall, of the Beni Marinc dynasty, and the almost total subjugation of the country by Portugal, and then the civil war (and that ensued before the establishment of a Sheriffean dynasty), reduced this region, in a period of two generations, to an almost chaotic state. What shipwreck must there have been of old usages! A few traces appear in the three or four meagre works written on Africa in the sixteenth century.

The town of Salee, as described by Leo Africanus, would scarcely be recognised in the city which lay before me, of which I could measure the dimensions and observe the contents, though I could not pass the gates.

“It is most pleasantly situate upon the sea-shore, within half a mile of Rabat, both which town and the river Barugrag separateth in sunder. The buildings of this town carry a show of antiquity on them, being artificially carved and stately supported with marble pillars. Their temples are most beautiful, and their shops are built under large porches; and at the end of every row of shops is an arch, which (as they say) is to divide one occupation from another. And to say all in a word, here is nothing wanting which may be required, either in a most honourable city, or in a flourishing commonwealth. Moreover, here resort all kinds of merchants, Christians, and others. Here the Genoese, Venetians, English, and Low Dutch used to traffic. The inhabitants do weave most excellent cotton. Here, likewise, are made very fine combs, which are sold in all the kingdom of Fez; for the region thereabout yieldeth great plenty of box and of other wood fit for the same purpose. Their Government is very orderly and discreet, even until this day; for they have most learned judges, umpires, and deciders of doubtful cases in law.

“This town is frequented by many rich merchants of Genoa, whom the king hath always had in great regard, because he gaineth much yearly by their traffic. The said merchants have their abode and diet partly here at Salla, and partly at Fez, from both which towns they mutually help the traffic, one of another.”

The change in the disposition of the people is not less marked than that in the character of the city. Little would one suspect to-day, that two centuries ago, Christians were thus hospitably received and kindly treated in Salee. He continues:—“In the year of the Hegira, 670, it was surprised by a Castilian captain, the inhabitants being put to flight, and the Christians enjoying the city. * * * And albeit this town was in so few days recovered from the enemy, yet a world it was to see what a wonderful alteration both of the houses and of the state of government happened. Many houses of this town are left desolate, especially near the town walls; which, albeit, they are most stately and curiously built, yet no man there is that will inhabit them.”

Dec. 11th.

I have seen several of the renegades. The French are the only ones who have any knowledge by which they may be useful. One came to talk about a project of a wire suspension bridge over the Seboo. He remained nearly the whole day, and detailed his life and adventures during the dozen years he has been in this country. Several of them have been with Abd-el Kadir. They spoke in high terms of the presumed succession of the Sultan, and of some other leading men. With these few exceptions, their discourse was most unfavourable to the Moors, whom they called cowards and braggarts. In their battles the loss never exceeded twenty men; and a single French regiment might march to Morocco. The Arabs, they said, were divided amongst themselves; but the Brebers were still more so; and the art of Government here consisted in setting one tribe against another, and one chief against another. Their remedy was disciplined troops. If the Emperor, said one of them, had had five thousand disciplined men, he never would have received M. Roche.

I said, that if the Emperor had known how to transact a matter of business, he never would have been insulted by the presence of that person, and that one hundred thousand men would not give him that knowledge. I instanced Spain and Algiers as evidence of the power of resistance of a country destitute, not of regular troops only, but of a Government. I added, that a regular army facilitated invasion, but not defence, and generally proved the means of rendering a people an easy prey. Certainly, to put an army at the disposal of the Emperor of Morocco would be the means of doing so.

Abd-el-Kadir was rated very low, and spoken of very little. The Europeans admired him for his valour, enterprise, generosity, and humanity; but did not respect his military judgment. They said that he uselessly exposed men and tribes, threw away great opportunities, and afforded to the French the means of extending their authority.

If Abd-el-Kadir had not been playing a game, at all events a game was played in his person. He was necessary to the French military system of Algiers. He is known to have been three times in their hands, and to have been suffered to escape.

From one who had been for seven years the companion of Abd-el-Kadir, I give the following incidents. After the destruction of the Turkish Government, the most powerful chief was Mahmud Ben Ismael, the descendant of the man who had first entered Oran on its evacuation by the Spaniards. Abd-el-Kadir came next by his family and religious character: differences arising between them, the latter had to fly, and took refuge in Oran, asking the assistance of the French. They did not neglect the opportunity to sow divisions between the tribes, and gave him arms, ammunition, and twenty thousand dollars. With these means he defeated his rival, who, in like manner, came to the French, and said, “You have strengthened my rival against me; deal fairly now by me.” They required that he should acknowledge himself the vassal of France; but this proposal he rejected. Abd-el-Kadir from that time continued at war with the French, till the treaty of the Tafna, by which the French appeared to gain some show of title, but in reality invested Abd-el-Kadir with a quasi sovereign character.

The rupture of this treaty was occasioned by the violation of the Emir’s territory by the Duke d’Aumale, when returning from Constantine. He led the troops through passes which exposed them to be cut off, had not treachery been at work. A French renegade had insinuated himself into the confidence and affections of Abd-el-Kadir. This man stole the seal of the Emir, and wrote letters to the Chiefs, requiring them to allow the French to pass. A Jew, who in the pillage of the treasury of Algiers had secured a quantity of jewels, and had, therefore, to fly, and was in the deira, discovered the fraud. High words ensued in the tent of the renegade: the conversation was carried on in French, and M. Lascases, a French advocate, who, compromised in the affairs of July, had taken refuge with Abd-el-Kadir, entered the tent to implore them not to speak so loud. He thus became acquainted with the transaction. (He afterwards came to Morocco.) The Jew was quieted, and induced to remain and sup with the renegade. Next morning the renegade had left, and in the tent the Jew was found dead. At Mascara the renegade took one of Abd-el-Kadir’s people to accompany him, as if proceeding somewhere by his orders. On arriving at the French posts, he clapped a pistol to his companion’s ear and blew out his brains. He rejoined his countrymen, and was immediately appointed to an important post in the army of Africa.

The renegade whose opinions I have been reporting, saw the absurdity of the attempt to change the national costume. The haïk and other clothing of the horsemen might appear an embarrassment, though, in fact, it was not so to them; but the sulam or bornoos of the foot soldiers was a costume rather to be adopted by other nations than changed by the Moors. The most interesting part of the conversation was the anxious inquiries they made respecting the successes of the Circassians, of which vague rumours had reached them through Egypt. One of these men had been with the Aï Fatu, one of the most powerful tribes, numbering thirty thousand horse. The Sultan has built several fortresses round them, but the most of these they have taken and destroyed.

Their mode of attack is this. They allot certain portions of the wall to the different tribes or families; they then advance simultaneously on all sides, with bags and hurdles to fill up the ditch, and make a bridge to the rampart. Many fall, but those who follow march on. If any hang back, their wives are taken from them, and they are not allowed afterwards to marry. Here is the Roman testudo, or perhaps the origin of it. Their cry is, “Shields to the wall.” They shave their beards.

Speaking of the difference between the Arabs and the Turks, this story was told by one of the former. When Mahomet left this world, he delivered to the Turks a standard, and to the Arabs a standard, telling them that he should return in forty years to require it of them. Then the Arabs took their standard and cut it into many pieces, and each man put his piece by in his breast; but the Turks took care of the standard, and, making a chest of cypress-wood, they put upon it forty locks, and they laid in it the standard, and gave a key to each of the elders of the forty tribes. At the end of the years Mahomet came to the Arabs, and said: “Where is your flag?” and they all called out, “Here it is—here it is!” and each man put his hand into his breast, but the pieces could not fit; so Mahomet said to them, “Unworthy servants, the empire is departed from you.” And then he went to the Turks, and said to them, “Where is your flag?” They answered, “We have laid it by;” and he said, “Bring it forth.” So they called the elders together, but one was wanting. So he said to them, “This is a pretence, for you have lost the flag;” and they said, “The elder is gone to look after his flocks—an elder of the people cannot be wanting. Come again to-morrow.” So Mahomet came the next day, and there were the forty elders with the forty keys; so they opened the chest and brought forth the flag; and Mahomet said, “Good and faithful servants, the empire is taken from the Arabs and given unto you!”