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CHAPTER XIII.

Second stay at Mogador — Plants obtained through native collectors — Outrage committed by the Haha people — Story of the troubles in Haha — Farewell presents to our servants and escort — An unpunctual tradesman corrected — Exports from Mogador — Caravans from Timbuktou — Jewish wedding — Voyage in the Lady Havelock — Land at Saffi — Excursion ashore — Land at Mazagan — Return to Tangier, and thence to England.

However pleasant were our recollections of the rough life we had been leading for the past five weeks, we could not fail to appreciate the physical comfort involved in a return to the habits of civilised life at Mogador. A chair to sit upon, a table at which to eat one’s meals, a hundred other things to which daily use makes us quite insensible and indifferent, become luxuries to one who has for some time been deprived of them.

We had no lack of occupation during the four days of our stay at Mogador. The large harvest of dried plants collected during our journey had to be put in order and safely packed for conveyance to England. It had been our prime object to obtain as far as possible a complete representation of the Flora of the territory which we had been able to explore; and for that purpose we had made it a point to carry away a specimen, or at least a fragment, of every species, even the commonest, from each district that we traversed. In this way our collections represent, not merely the constituents of the South Marocco flora, but, to a great extent, the distribution of the several species. Besides attending to this, our main object, we did not fail to collect duplicates of most of the new and rare species seen during our journey for distribution to the chief public herbaria, and to the botanists who have illustrated the flora of the Mediterranean region. To avoid chances of future error, it was necessary to give much care to the labelling and packing of our collections, which we could not expect to see again until some time after our return to England. Fortunately our specimens were nearly all quite dry, and in excellent condition; and we had not to complain of the moist condition of the air which had given us so much trouble during our first stay on the coast. The cool breezes from the N. and NE., which make the climate of this region so agreeable and healthful in summer, now steadily prevailed. The air at this season is relatively dry and free from haze, and, as a consequence, the daily range of the thermometer is greater than at any other season. Yet, as compared with any other place we know, the extremes are singularly moderate, and never exceed the limits conducive to full health and enjoyment. The thermometer, observed pretty frequently by night as well as by day, only twice rose during our stay to 77° F. At about 3 A.M. it usually fell to 63° F., and on one occasion to 61°.

On our return we found awaiting us a small addition to our Marocco herbarium. With the kind assistance of Mr. Carstensen, we had arranged during our first visit that two natives, who had received a first lesson in the art of drying plants, should start for Agadir early in May, and should bring back whatever plants they could then find in flower. The collection, which we now shared between us, was not of much importance, including, as it did, but a single species not found by us. We doubted, at the time whether the men had, as they solemnly asserted, really reached the neighbourhood of Agadir; but we have now reason to believe that the vegetation of the coast region from Mogador southward to about the twenty-ninth parallel of latitude is very uniform.

Since our return from Marocco our friend M. Cosson, with the active assistance of the late M. Beaumier, has succeeded in engaging the services of two native collectors, one of them a very intelligent Jew, the other a Shelluh mountaineer. From the former large collections from the country as far south as the borders of Oued Noun, and as far east as the oasis of Akka, have been sent to Paris; and the latter has contributed a few additions to the flora of the Great Atlas, along with many of the species collected by us. With his accustomed liberality, M. Cosson has sent us duplicates of these fresh contributions to the flora of Marocco.

In the afternoon of June 4, we went to pay a farewell visit to the banks of the Oued Kseb, which had been the scene of our first botanical excursion in South Marocco. During the interval of six weeks a great change had passed over the vegetation; most of the annuals were completely dried up and had disappeared; but the excursion was not altogether unproductive, and we were able to add a few plants to our collections.

There remained a point of some botanical interest, which it was very desirable to clear up before our departure. The curious cactoïd Euphorbia, producing the Gum Euphorbium,[1] written of by Dioscorides and Pliny, grows in the interior provinces of South Marocco. The only modern writer who has given an account of it is Jackson,[2] who, though no botanist, was a careful and conscientious observer. In his account of the plant, and the accompanying plate, we had been struck by some apparent discrepancies. The gum, as he says, is obtained from the plant growing on the lower region of the Atlas; but the same plant is, according to him, abundant about Agadir, and is carried thence to Mogador for the use of the tanners. The Agadir plant, however, he declares to produce no gum. Further than this, in the plate annexed to his description, the left-hand figure, giving a view of the whole plant on a reduced scale, shows the thick fleshy branches, with four angles, as we had seen them in the specimen given to Hooker by the Kaïd at Mesfioua; while the right-hand figure, showing a fragment of the natural size, represents the end of a branch, with numerous (about ten) projecting fleshy ribs, beset with spines. Hooker came to the conclusion that there were possibly two quite distinct plants known to Jackson, and on returning to Mogador he proceeded to make inquiry on the subject.

Before long a native was brought to us who appeared to be well acquainted with the Agadir plant, and who declared that it grows in abundance about half-way between that place and Mogador. Upon this Hooker became anxious to start at once for the purpose of personally examining the suspected plant, and securing live specimens for Kew. To this Mr. Carstensen felt it necessary to object. Matters, as he informed us, had been getting from bad to worse in the great province of Haha, which includes the whole sea-board between Mogador and Agadir. Between the discontent caused by repeated acts of unprovoked cruelty on the part of the Governor, and the results of the war still proceeding between him and his neighbours in Mtouga, the province had lapsed into a complete state of anarchy, and a European attempting to travel at such a time would be exposed to serious risk. It was reluctantly agreed by Hooker that our native informant, with a companion, should depart for the spot, which he professed to know, charged with the commission to bring back a donkey-load of specimens of the living plant.

June 5 was a day of some anxiety in Mogador, and the news which we received at breakfast brought full confirmation of Mr. Carstensen’s apprehensions as to the disturbed state of the country. We had already noticed that the camel-drivers arriving from Marocco, or other places in the interior, are used, after discharging their goods in the town, to litter their camels outside the wall at a place close to the eastern gate. We now heard that during the preceding night a party of marauders from Haha had pushed their audacity so far as to attack and kill a camel-driver sleeping at the foot of the city wall, and drive off seven camels that were in his charge. Whether the guard at the gate close at hand slept soundly through the scene, or had their own reasons for non-interference, we failed to learn.

This was one of a series of incidents that was not completed until after our return to England; but as we were so directly concerned in the results of the disturbances in Haha, and as we learned the particulars in an authentic way from Mr. Carstensen, who had daily intercourse with eye-witnesses and actors in the drama, it is as well here to give the story as we learned it.

The Governor of Haha, the largest and most important province in the empire, which long maintained its independence of the Sultan, had hereditary claims to the government of the twelve cognate Shelluh tribes who make up the population. Although miserably fallen away from its ancient prosperity—in the time of Leo Africanus there were six or seven populous towns and several fortified places, where there is now nothing better than a village— the province still furnishes much agricultural produce and live stock, and sends hides, grain, oil, and other merchandise for exportation to the port of Mogador. The Governor, at the time of our visit, had long held his office; by liberal contributions to the Imperial treasury, he had kept himself in the favour of the Sultan, while amassing for himself vast wealth; and, according to the testimony of the French naturalist, M. Balansa, confirmed by the consuls who had visited him, he showed an appreciation of the advantages of civilised life, and a desire to maintain friendly relations with Europeans.

Thus wealthy, powerful, and feared, this man might have maintained his authority unbroken, but that by a continuous course of oppression and cruelty he at length stirred up the spirit of resistance amongst his own people. Vengeance, however atrocious, for acts of revolt is so fully an admitted right of men in authority in Marocco that it did not seem to count for much in the indictment against him that on one occasion he inflicted on several hundred—some said a thousand—insurgent prisoners the horrible punishment of the ‘leather glove.’ A lump of quicklime is placed in the victim’s open palm, the hand is closed over it, and bound fast with a piece of raw hide. The other hand is fastened with a chain behind the back, while the bound fist is plunged into water. When, on the ninth day, the wretched man has the remaining hand set free, it is to find himself a mutilated object for life, unless mortification has set in, and death relieves him from further suffering. But, in addition to such acts as these, the Kaïd of Haha was accused of capricious deeds of ferocity that revolted the consciences of his people. Among other stories of the kind, we were told that on some occasion when he was having a wall made round his garden, he happened to see a young man jump over the low unfinished fence. Feeling in some way annoyed at this, he had the unfortunate boy’s right foot struck off, as a lesson not to repeat the experiment.

In such a country, where the danger of revolt is so terrible, the discontent among the people of Haha might long have slumbered, but for the occasion given by the war with the neighbouring province of Mtouga. The spirit of resistance spread rapidly, and it soon become apparent that the position of the old Kaïd was becoming untenable. At last he resolved upon flight, after previously securing the aid and protection of his neighbour, the Governor of Shedma. Departing at night, with a train of women and slaves, and with twenty-two mules laden with treasure, he reached by daylight the borders of Shedma, just in time to forestall pursuit from his outraged subjects. He escaped unharmed—although a bullet intended for him by the pursuers struck in the hand his protector, the Governor of Shedma—and continued his journey to the city of Marocco. On reaching the capital, he at once placed himself under the protection of the Viceroy,[3] and judiciously sacrificed half of his wealth as an offering to the imperial treasury. He was received with favour; a handsome house was assigned to him as a residence; and for anything we know to the contrary, he may be still enjoying, what is seldom granted to a high functionary in Marocco, a tranquil old age.

When the flight of the Governor was noised abroad in Haha, the people of the country proceeded, according to custom, to pillage and destroy the castle of their oppressor. Among other things brought to light were two skeletons built into the wall of one of the inner chambers. The Kaïd had two nephews, who were, or might have become, dangerous rivals, and it was in this way that he had disposed of them.

Among the stores found in the kasbah were several large earthen jars of butter, and others of honey, and these furnished forth a feast for the unbidden guests. The Kaïd was a thoughtful man, and even in the hurry of his departure he had not forgotten his disobedient subjects. The feast was not well over when the effects began to be apparent, and a large number of those who partook of it died in agony. The Kaïd had mixed a large quantity of arsenic with the delicacies which he had been forced to leave behind him.

Meanwhile, as we had seen, the relations between the people of Mogador and their neighbours had become very unsatisfactory. Indignant at the outrage committed before our departure, the Governor of Mogador thought it necessary to show his strength and enforce respect. He accordingly despatched 200 men, under the command of our old friend Kaïd el Hadj, to demand satisfaction for what had happened, and security for better conduct in the future. The result was exactly what might have been expected from the pious, but decidedly unwarlike, character of the leader. The Haha people explained to El Hadj that they were more than a match for him and his men, and that his wisest course was to return by the shortest road to Mogador. The mind of the commander was always open to prudent counsel, and he professed himself convinced; and to save him and his men from trouble by the way they were escorted to the gates of Mogador by ten men from Haha.

Policy, however, soon effected what valour had failed to achieve. A virtual blockade was established, and all communication with Haha suspended. This may have been inconvenient to the Mogador people; but, at the worst, they could always obtain supplies from Shedma by the road which we had followed from Aïn el Hadjar. To the Haha people it soon became intolerable. Mogador is their chief market. There they sell their provisions, and it is the Mogador merchants who purchase their oil and hides and other exports. An envoy was sent to re-establish friendly relations, and to entreat the foreign Consuls to mediate in their favour. In token of entire submission, they proposed that 2,000 men from the province should come to make a peace-offering. The Governor judiciously thought that number excessive—there was no knowing what these wild hill people might do, if they fancied themselves masters of the town—and agreed to receive a deputation of 200 representatives of the Haha tribes. On the appointed day they came, driving before them several bullocks; and, on arriving before the Sultan’s palace, proceeded to hamstring and slaughter them as a propitiatory offering to the sovereign authority, whereupon friendly relations were at once re-established.

While these events were undeveloped, the thoughts of the Mogador people, European as well as native, were fully exercised, although they felt secure from positive danger. A part of the day was occupied by us in taking leave of our escort and attendants, and in distributing among them presents and rewards, well earned by some, and which could not be refused even to the less deserving. A great change had come over the appearance of many of our men since their return. Ambak and Hamed, who had made the journey on foot, with none but the scantiest and the poorest clothing, now appeared fresh from the bath and dressed in their best: Hamed looking especially dignified in a snow-white turban, and formidable-looking dagger stuck in his girdle. All seemed pleased and satisfied with the very moderate sums awarded them—to which in the case of the more deserving were added knives and other articles of English cutlery. The soldiers who had travelled all the way from Mogador received eight dollars (40 francs) each, while to the Marocco men were given five dollars each.

When the rest were disposed of, there remained the two officers. Towards Kaïd el Hadj, who had always maintained a friendly and respectful bearing, we had none but kindly feelings. When, in addition to the present of twelve dollars, Hooker handed him a silver watch, a large sheath-knife, and a few smaller presents, the old man was quite overcome; his eyes were filled with tears; and he took leave of us with many pious wishes for our future welfare. As regards El Hasbi the case was very different. He had from the very day of our departure from Marocco done his utmost to defeat our wishes and plans, and had not even the grace to veil his opposition beneath a civil exterior. Hooker decided on writing a letter to El Graoui, reporting our opinion of the conduct of his subordinate, and sending this to the great man with a sum of ten dollars, to be given to El Hasbi, or withheld, as he might decide.

The Haha troubles affected our pockets in an unexpected way. In ordinary times there is a constant demand for baggage animals at Mogador, and we were led to expect that we should sell at a profit the mules that we had bought at Marocco. The usual price at Mogador is from 8l. to 10l. for a serviceable beast. But in the present state of the neighbouring country the roads were considered unsafe, and traffic with the interior was almost completely stopped. We were therefore considered rather fortunate in selling our team of mules at about 5l. apiece.

In the course of the day we had a fresh illustration of native manners that somewhat amused us, for we were no longer in the frame of mind in which a slight abuse of authority could shock our European ideas. The Mogador brass-workers have a high reputation throughout Marocco, and during our first stay in the town we had ordered a variety of articles from the man who was considered the most skilful in his craft. The time fixed for delivering the goods was fully a week before the actual date of our return. When Mr. Carstensen heard that the order had not been executed at the appointed time, he sent a message informing the Governor of the fact; and the latter forthwith had the man thrown into prison, and appointed a soldier to keep guard, and see that he did no other work than that promised to us. After two or three days the prisoner got some friend to intercede with Mr. Carstensen for his release, and at the instance of the latter the Governor relented. To-day the articles were all duly brought to the Consulate, and the maker seemed well content with the very moderate payment agreed upon.

We should have gladly made our return voyage in the comfortable steamer Verité, that had carried us from Tangier, but the date of her arrival on her return from the Canary Islands to Marseilles was uncertain. Meanwhile the Lady Havelock steamer, plying between the Marocco coast and London, had reached Mogador, and we resolved to take our passage by that conveyance to Tangier.

Farewell visits and the packing of our collections occupied the greater part of the day on June 6. At the wharf the port labourers were busy in shipping large bales of esparto grass, which chiefly comes from the adjoining province of Haha. This is now largely consumed by paper-makers in France and England. It is said that the greater part of what reaches England from Marocco is used in the paper-mills that supply the ‘Times’ newspaper.

A caravan had lately reached Mogador from the Soudan, and we saw several bales of ostrich feathers lying on the wharf. They were imperfectly covered with coarse sacking; and the outer layer of feathers, soiled and broken, seemed to be quite worthless, although the total value of such a bale must be very considerable. Some trade routes in Central Asia and elsewhere in the world involve terrible hardships to those engaged in the transport; but it seems that there is none nearly so formidable as that from Timbuktou to Marocco. In several directions the way across the Great Desert is facilitated by the occurrence of oases at moderate intervals; as in the way from Tafilelt to Touat, and in the line followed by the Arab traders from Tripoli to Murzouk. But throughout the greater part of the way from Timbuktou to Akka there appear to be no true oases. Wells are few and far between, and the supply of water often miserably scanty; and even when a caravan escapes all the dangers of the long way, and the bones of men and camels are not left to bleach upon the burning-sands, the sufferings of the travellers must reach the verge of human endurance.[4] At the present day the regular caravans no longer attempt to reach Marocco or Fez by way of Tafilelt, the routes over the Atlas being too insecure. The bad reputation of the Oued Noun people is equally effectual in closing the coast route from the south to Mogador; and the course adopted is by the oasis of Akka, lying south of the Anti-Atlas range, and about 100 miles east of Oued Noun. From Akka to Agadir the way rounds the western extremity of Anti-Atlas, through a hilly and populous country, which appears to be safe enough for any but Christian travellers.

Among other articles exported from Mogador is the brown gum arabic of commerce, which comes chiefly from Demnet, and elsewhere on the skirts of the Atlas east of Marocco. If native testimony is to be credited, the Acacia producing this gum is not different from that which we saw growing abundantly in Haha and elsewhere through the hilly country,[5] though we did not hear of any gum being exported from the western provinces. It seems unlikely that this plant, named by Willdenow Acacia gummifera, should be the only one of a group of allied species extending across Northern Africa that produces no gum. We were interested in finding that the parcel shown to us, sent for export from Mogador, was packed in the dry stems and leaves of a Ceratophyllum, a genus of aquatic plants not hitherto seen in Marocco.

During the afternoon the two natives who were despatched two days before returned safely from Haha, driving before them a donkey laden with the Agadir Euphorbia. Hooker’s suspicion was at once verified. The plant of the coast region is quite different from the gum-producing species of the inland region, but in appearance it comes near the East Indian species, E. officinarum of Linnæus. Under the name E. Beaumieriana, the coast plant, which has yet not been collected in flower or fruit, along with E. resinifera from Demnet, and another new species brought by a native collector from the southern borders of Sous, has been carefully described by our friend M. Cosson.

In the course of the evening we went by invitation to a Jewish wedding, which was celebrated in the house of one of the chief Israelite families in the town. The proceedings were quite in accordance with the descriptions given by other travellers in Marocco. The bride, who sat cross-legged, arrayed in gorgeous attire, had regular features and large dark eyes, but seemed dazed and stupified by the crowd, the noise, the glare of many lights, and the heat of the close rooms, from which we were not sorry soon to escape.

On June 7 the time for our departure arrived, and towards sunset we went on board the Lady Havelock, accompanied by our kind host, Mr. Carstensen, and by the late Mr. Grace, the representative of one of the chief English mercantile houses engaged in the Marocco trade, to whom we were indebted for numerous marks of attention during our stay in South Marocco.

We found in Captain Bone, who commanded the Lady Havelock, an old acquaintance; for it was in this steamer that, on our first arrival, we crossed the Straits from Gibraltar to Tangier. He had warned us not to expect much good from Marocco or the Moors, and was always well pleased when in the course of conversation he was able to extract any facts to confirm his unfavourable prepossessions.

The north wind had been blowing freshly all day, but, as usual, it fell at nightfall. The moment for heaving the anchor had arrived; we took leave of our Mogador friends, and soon found ourselves once more gently rolling on the broad Atlantic waves.

On the morning of June 8 we were before Saffi. Mr. Hunot, the British Vice-Consul, soon came on board, and we gladly accepted his courteous invitation to spend the day ashore. Through his brother, who had so kindly assisted us during our diplomatic struggle with the authorities in the city of Marocco, Mr. Hunot already knew of our journey in the interior, and kindly interested himself in forwarding our wish to make the best use of our time at Saffi. This place is considered to be much hotter in summer than Mogador; yet, during an excursion of several hours, we found the heat much less oppressive than it commonly is at the same season on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The form of the land here at once dictated the best course to be taken by a party of naturalists. On the north side a range of lofty, almost vertical cliffs rises from the sea beach, and leaves no space for any but a few marine plants. On the landward side of the town the hills show gentle slopes, in great part under tillage, and bare of trees. Along the shore southward the coastline is formed by reefs of friable tertiary rock, rising from thirty to fifty feet above the water’s edge, and forming a shelf of level land, in great part overgrown with shrubs and small bushes. On the landward side the hills rise at first with a gentle slope, and then more steeply, until, about four miles from the town, they show a steep escarpment of limestone rock, locally known as the Jews’ Cliff, and this was fixed upon as the limit of our excursion.

Mr. Hunot, who had accompanied us, had kindly provided horses for our use; but we found so many objects to interest us that the greater part of the way was made on foot.

We had not gone far along the sea rocks when we found them plentifully covered with a species of Zygophyllum altogether new to us. Though evidently allied to the Z. album, so common in Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa, this differed at first sight in the much greater size of the thick succulent branches and leaves. It turned out to be the Z. Fontanesii of Webb, a plant hitherto known only in the Canary Islands. Another characteristic plant of those islands was Helianthemum canariense; but this had already been found by us near Aïn el Hadjar.

When we reached the foot of the Jews’ Cliff, which rises some 300 feet above the shelf of land at its seaward base, we resolved to divide our forces. From fragments already picked up, and from Mr. Hunot’s information, we were led to think that some of the exposed beds of limestone must abound in fossils. Hooker resolved to make a search; and, with Mr. Hunot, ascended the face of the cliff, which is easy enough of access, and ultimately reached the top. He was rewarded by getting good specimens of several fossils, the most abundant being Echinoderms of a new type, since described by Mr. Etheridge in the ‘Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society.’[6]

Ball meanwhile was engaged in botanising on the sea rocks and among the bushes at the foot of the cliff. In the former habitat he found two species heretofore known only at Mogador, Andryala mogadorensis and Frankenia velutina. Among the bushes there were no plants of special interest, but he nevertheless had an unexpected encounter. While searching about among the bushes a rustling in the dry grass caught his ear; he looked down, and there, within a yard of his feet, was el efah, the dreaded ‘two minutes’ snake,’ nearly as thick and about as long as a man’s arm. As the enemy was retreating, gliding gently among the bushes, there was no occasion to move, and he watched it for a few seconds till it disappeared. The glistening scales were of many colours, forming a sort of mosaic on a ground of pale brown, very much as represented in the plate to Jackson’s ‘Account of Marocco.’ Even supposing that the virulence of the poison in the bite of this snake has not been exaggerated by popular report, it can scarcely be thought formidable to strangers unless they happen to be botanists. It keeps habitually to the cover afforded by the numerous small bushes of the coast region, and its form is so ill fitted for active motion that it can only strike a near object. The only danger arises from the chance of inadvertently hurting it while moving about in the places which it frequents.

About 4 P.M. we returned to dine at the British Consulate. At Mr. Hunot’s table we met Mr. Jordan, the son of a British merchant engaged in the Marocco trade. He had been brought up in the country, spoke Moorish-Arabic familiarly, was used to dress as a Moor, and had established intimate relations with many of the natives. Emboldened by custom, he had on one occasion joined a party of Moorish merchants bound for Tarudant in Sous, and safely reached that place. Something, however, either in his appearance, or accent, or gesture excited suspicion; it was noised abroad that a Christian was in the town, and an excited crowd soon gathered round the house in which he and his companions were lodged. As the demeanour of the people became more and more threatening, the travellers barricaded the entrance, and prepared to defend themselves by force. After some hours, as evening was coming on, the assailants became more determined, and proceeded to pile up faggots round the building with the obvious intention of burning the house with its inmates. Just as matters were looking very serious, the Governor of the town made his appearance with a party of soldiers; the doors were opened, and the Governor said to Mr. Jordan: ‘You have a horse, and you have from this till to-morrow morning to put a wide space between you and Tarudant; you had better lose no time.’ Protected by the soldiers, the Englishman rode out of the city, and made his way towards Agadir by night, thence returning safely to Mogador.

Tarudant was once a large and flourishing city, and its gardens were famous throughout Marocco; but, like the rest of the country, it has fallen off from its former condition, and is now a poor and decaying place.

It is clear that in that part of the empire increasing religious fanaticism has accompanied declining prosperity. In the sixteenth century Tarudant was resorted to by English and French merchants, and it was the seat of active trade, and of manufactures in copper which was extracted from mines in the neighbouring chain of the Great Atlas. The population was apparently then altogether of the native Berber stock. In the course of the continued efforts made by successive Sultans to establish their authority in the Sous province, the Moorish element became more and more predominant in the towns, and to this we may reasonably attribute their subsequent decline.

When Leo Africanus travelled in Sous, early in the sixteenth century, Tarudant was only one of many large and flourishing towns, and was much surpassed in importance by Tagavost, a place whose very name has disappeared from memory, and whose exact site is unknown to modern geographers.

Mr. Hunot, who is well acquainted with the city of Marocco, estimated the population at about 40,000, but admitted that there were no materials for an accurate guess on the subject. Fully one-fourth of the inhabitants had been carried off by the last visitation of cholera, from which the coast towns, with the sole exception of Mogador, had also suffered severely.

The main check to population in the greater part of the empire arises, however, from the recurrence of famines. These sometimes are caused by locusts, but are then of a partial and local character; but those consequent on the occasional failure of the winter and spring rains are not very unfrequent, and are of terrible severity. Among the means resorted to at such times for supporting life, we learned that the roots of a small plant of the Arum tribe are much used. This, known to botanists as Arisarum vulgare, is very common throughout North Africa, as well as in many parts of the south of Europe. It flowers in this country in winter, and the leaves wither and disappear in the spring. The root, which is not so large as an ordinary walnut, contains, as is usual in the Aroid tribe, an acrid juice, which makes it quite uneatable in the natural state. This, however, is easily removed by frequent washing of the pounded roots, and the residue is innoxious and nutritive. The same process has been applied with success to the common European plant, Arum maculatum, as well as to many exotic species of the same tribe.

Among the many difficulties that beset commercial intercourse with Marocco, the frequent interruption of internal traffic arising from frequent petty warfare between neighbouring tribes is not to be forgotten. A merchant may purchase a quantity of produce at what appears a remunerative price; but if he be unable to have it conveyed within a convenient time to the port whence it is to be shipped, his bargain may turn out a very bad one. At Mogador we had left things in a condition foreboding a complete suspension of communication with the interior; we now heard that owing to some local troubles the coast road from Saffi to Mogador was temporarily closed.

At nightfall we returned to our steamer, but found that we were to remain for the night in the roadstead of Saffi. On the next morning our obliging host, Mr. Hunot, again came on board, and we enjoyed his agreeable conversation until the time came for starting on the short run to Mazagan. We reached that place in the afternoon of June 9, and landed with Captain Bone at a wharf beside the Castle built by the Portuguese. It was proposed that we should go through the town, and visit the great cistern which was constructed during the prolonged Portuguese occupation of this place, and which enabled them to resist successfully the frequent sieges undertaken by the Moors. We preferred, however, to make use of the short time at our disposal in examining the vegetation near the shore on the north side of the town.

The net result of our short excursion was not very large or brilliant; but, in the case of a country so little known as Marocco, the interest of his collections to a naturalist does not mainly depend on the rarity or novelty of the objects he may happen to meet. Each plant or animal carried away contributes an item of information respecting the distribution of the organised world, the value of which it is impossible at the time to estimate. Travellers who happen to visit little-known countries would do well to remember that, with the most trifling expenditure of trouble, they may make useful contributions to natural science by preserving specimens of even the most insignificant-looking objects, provided always that these are afterwards placed in the hands of competent naturalists.[7]

We returned on board about sunset, but did not leave the roads of Mazagan till about 10 P.M. When we came on deck next morning, June 11, we were nearing the coast opposite Casa Blanca, and cast anchor soon after 7 A.M. We here found the Sydney Hall, belonging to the same owners as the Lady Havelock. She had left London on June 2, reached Casa Blanca on the 10th, and soon after our arrival started again on her outward voyage to Mogador and the Canary Islands. We had the pleasure of again seeing Mr. Dupuis, the active British Vice-Consul at Casa Blanca; but as our stay was to be short, and we had already made an excursion ashore, we did not now attempt to land.

During our return voyage our minds were once more exercised by the peculiar climatal conditions of this portion of the African coast. It did not appear that the cool temperature which had prevailed since our return to the neighbourhood of Mogador on the 1st inst. was considered in any way remarkable or unusual, although travellers who have visited the city of Marocco at this season speak of a temperature of 90° F. in the shade as not uncommon; and at Fez, though in the immediate vicinity of high mountains, still higher temperatures have been recorded. The direction of the wind on the coast in summer, which to the south of Cape Cautin is constantly between the north and north-east, is less uniform to the north of that limit; but the prevailing sign is NE., and this no doubt is the most important factor in determining the climate.

There is, however, another element that cannot be overlooked. When we examine the chart exhibiting the oceanic currents in the North Atlantic, compiled at our Meteorological Office, and fix our attention on the portion lying between the 30th and 40th degrees of latitude, and extending from the coasts of Portugal and Marocco to 20° of west longitude, we find that the currents throughout this large area constantly move in a direction between SE. and SSE., with an average velocity which increases from about five miles per day in the longitude of Madeira, to at least ten miles as we approach within 100 miles of the shores of Europe and Africa. This velocity again diminishes with a nearer approach to land; and, from a few observations, it would seem that along the Marocco coast the current is deflected in a SW. direction, parallel to that of the coast line.

It is clear that in this continual flow of cool water from the north-west we have a cause which cannot fail to produce its effect on the climate of the adjoining coasts. It would be a matter of interest to ascertain how far the direction and velocity of the ocean currents are modified by the prevailing winds, which here set in nearly opposite directions in winter and in summer; but an answer to such an inquiry will require much time, and the accumulation of a large number of careful observations.

We completed our cargo by taking on board at Casa Blanca considerable quantities of maize, beans, oil, goat-skins and wool; and our captain resolved not to touch at Rabat, but to run direct to Tangier. Eighteen hours under steam carried us past Cape Spartel, and in the afternoon of June 12 we lay off Tangier.

Hooker’s numerous and pressing engagements in England made him resolve to forego the pleasure of revisiting the neighbourhood of Tangier, and comparing the summer vegetation with that which we had admired two months before; he therefore determined to reach Gibraltar as soon as possible, with the hope of there catching the Peninsular and Oriental Mail Steamer for England. Ball could not deny himself the opportunity for a full day’s botanising on ground so attractive, and therefore removed his baggage ashore; while Hooker returned on board the Lady Havelock, which was to cross the Strait during the night.

On arriving at the Victoria Hotel, we learned that Sir J. D. Hay had taken up his residence at his charming villa on the Djebel Kebir, but we found awaiting us a kind note enclosing a welcome packet of letters from England. After a hasty dinner at the hotel, the time for parting came, and Hooker got out through the sea gate just before it was closed for the night. The mail steamer had left Gibraltar for England on the same day that we returned to Tangier; but on the following morning Hooker found the steamship Burmah, bound from Bombay to London, about to depart from Gibraltar, and after a rather slow voyage he reached the Thames on the morning of June 21.

Ball enjoyed a capital day’s plant-hunting at Tangier. The morning was given to the sandy tract near the shore and the course of the stream that passes by the east side of the town. This now made a much more brilliant show than it had done in the month of April. Many fine Umbelliferæ and Labiatæ, then barely in leaf, were now in full flower and fruit. Of these the queen was Salvia bicolor, a magnificent species, usually four or five feet, but sometimes eight or even ten feet high, much branched, with leaves of varied form from twelve to eighteen inches long, and great interrupted spikes of large blue and white flowers.

The slopes of the Djebel Kebir, which had been so brilliant in the spring, had now lost their splendour. The gum cistus, the golden Genista and Cytisus, the heaths, and many other ornamental species had long since shed their petals, and had been succeeded by new comers, most of them with comparatively inconspicuous flowers. For the botanist, however, the fruit is often more important than the flower, and the afternoon was not long enough to collect all the interesting species that presented themselves.

On June 14 Ball crossed the Strait from Tangier to Gibraltar in the ordinary small steamer. While awaiting conveyance to England he was detained three days, which were made short and agreeable by the hospitality of Sir W. Fenwick Williams, then governor of the fortress, and returned to England by a steamer bound from Calcutta to London, viâ the Suez Canal.

Our large collections reached England by the Lady Havelock, which arrived only about the end of June, and these, as well as the cases containing sundry purchases made in Marocco, were all in good condition.[8]

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CHAPTER XIV.

Resources of Marocco — Moorish Government a hopeless failure — Future prospects of Marocco — Objections to European interference — Answers to such objections.

Scientific travellers, whose attention was mainly engaged in their own special pursuits, and whose opportunities for gaining information were restricted by ignorance of the native languages, have no claim to speak with authority of the condition and prospects of a country so extensive as the Marocco Empire. But it would be strange if we had failed to derive some conclusions from the results of our personal observation and the information gained on the spot.

Of the material resources of Marocco it is difficult to say too much. Even under existing conditions, a great portion of the territory is extremely fertile, and supplies for export a large amount of agricultural produce. The two natural disadvantages with which it has to contend are, occasional deficient rainfall and the ravages of locusts. For the first, the remedy is to be sought in irrigation. The unfailing streams from the Atlas already serve to a limited extent; but the area of productive land might by intelligent management be very largely increased. We have seen an estimate of the quantity of water discharged by the five principal streams that fall into the Atlantic north of the Atlas, which fixes the amount at 9,000 cubic feet per second; and if to these were added the Moulouya, which falls into the Mediterranean, and the Siss, the Draha, the Asakka, and the Sous, which drain the southern slopes of the main chain, we should probably double the above estimate, and find an aggregate amount sufficient to irrigate three millions of acres. These figures must of course be considered as mere guesses; but there can be no doubt that they indicate a very large reserve of unused natural resources. With an almost unequalled climate, there is scarcely any one of the productions of the warmer temperate and subtropical zones that may not here be obtained. Besides grain, the country now supplies large quantities of olive oil, dates, oranges, and almonds, with a little cotton. The latter may be largely increased; and there seems to be no reason why coffee, tea, sugar, indigo, and other valuable exotic produce, should not be raised in the southern provinces.

There can be no doubt of the existence of mineral wealth in the Great Atlas. We have the direct testimony of Leo Africanus to the working of mines of copper and iron in the districts visited by him; and specimens brought by Shelluh mountaineers show that ores of lead, silver, nickel, and cobalt are likewise to be found. The forests of the Atlas would, if saved from wanton destruction, be a further important source of national wealth.

Rich in all the material elements of prosperity, this great territory, whose area may be roughly estimated at 190,000 square miles, is cursed by a Government which has in the past wrought nothing but ruin and degradation, and whose continued existence forbids the faintest hope of future improvement.

Nothing seems to be more clear than the decadence of the race who now represent the Arab conquerors of Mauritania. In their better days they united to martial vigour and skill some aptitude for progress in arts and learning. Works of public utility were not unknown; and, at a time when nearly all Europe was plunged in intellectual darkness, Fez was one of the chief centres of Arabic culture. The history of the last four centuries in Marocco has been one of continuous and uninterrupted decline. Unable to establish their authority over the larger portion of the region which they claim to govern, the Sultans have left to anarchy the mountain region into which the best part of the population was compelled to retire when driven from the fertile lower country. Over the provinces wherein they are able to enforce it, the rule of the Moorish Sultans is little else than an organised system of extortion, in which unchecked license is given to the agents of the central authority, on the sole condition of making this the final depository of whatever wealth the country can produce. The springs of industry and enterprise are broken; no man can dream of improving his own condition or that of his family, unless by elaborate fraud and concealment he can hoard up wealth, which he dare not employ in any way useful to the community.[1]

When we inquire what prospect there may be of any escape from the miserable condition to which Marocco is now reduced, no hopeful answer can be found. The most sanguine believer in the future of the Mohammedan races can suggest nothing better than the chance of the appearance of a Sultan, intelligent and energetic, and powerful enough to revive the traditions of the better days when rulers took some thought for the welfare of their subjects, and who might initiate an era of security and progress. But, to say nothing of the improbability of the appearance of such a man in a family that by frequent intermixture with the black race has become more Negro than Moorish, it seems a pure illusion to imagine that even an extraordinary man seated on the throne of Marocco, and surrounded by such agents as he would have at hand, could accomplish salutary reforms, and, more than that, to suppose that these could have any permanence. It is conceivable that if the Moor and Arab did not stand in the way, and the Berber stock were restored to their original inheritance, a great ruler might overcome their fatal tendency to tribal decomposition, weld them into a nation, and set them on the path of progress. History affords examples of some such transformation among vigorous barbarians or semi-savages. But with an effete race, corrupted by luxury, who have lost the spirit, but preserved many of the traditions, of a decayed civilisation, no such miracle is to be worked. Men of great powers, such as one cannot expect to see on the throne of Marocco, have ere now failed in the attempt, or the little they have effected has died with them.

No rational believer in progress can cling to the belief that this is the spontaneous tendency of all branches of the human race, the ultimate condition to which, with whatever delay, all must conform. Far from this, all history shows that the task of leading mankind on the onward road has always been the privilege of a few races only. The larger part of the earth is even now inhabited by people either in a stationary or a retrograde condition, and of the latter state Marocco affords one of the most striking examples.

The one reasonable prospect of improvement in the condition of Marocco is to be sought in its passing under the control of a civilised State, strong enough to overcome speedily the inevitable resistance of the Moorish ruling class, and advanced enough to consult the welfare of the people it undertakes to govern. If we ask what European State is by character and circumstances best fitted for such an undertaking the answer must be—France. Having already achieved with tolerable success a similar task in the adjoining region of Northern Africa, the French have every motive to add to their possessions a territory offering far greater natural advantages; and it is probable that they would have already effected the conquest, but for the inevitable jealousy of other European Powers. The French are not successful colonists; nor have the economic results of their annexation of Algeria been as brilliant as might have been expected. But in Marocco colonisation is not to be sought or desired. Under a government affording security for industry the Berber would settle in the unoccupied lands of the lower country, and carry out under intelligent control the works which would fit them for a large increase of population.

Many readers who hold to the traditional political ideas of the past will shrink from the conclusion here expressed. Not concerning themselves with the results of such a change on the future condition of Marocco, they will urge that such a great territorial extension of the French possessions in Africa would increase to a formidable extent the power of our ancient rival throughout the Mediterranean region; and they will with justice argue that it is not for the general interest of the civilised world that any single Power should obtain a preponderating influence over the rest.

Experience seems to supply an answer to these objections. If extensive foreign possessions be in some respects a source of strength to a country, they not less certainly are a cause of weakness in others; and in the case of a Power not holding maritime supremacy, the possession of valuable dependencies easily assailable by sea acts as a weighty check on the aggressive tendencies of the people.

A cordial acquiescence in the extension of French territory westward, might reasonably obtain in return a diminution of the jealousy with which our neighbours view the increase of English influence on the east side of the African continent. A cynic may remark that the policy here suggested would resemble an agreement between freebooters for the division of spoil; but, in truth, we believe it to be a mistake to suppose that there would be any spoil to distribute. It is more than doubtful whether any future extension of the African possessions either of France or England would more than pay the necessary expenses of occupation and administration. The gain to both countries would be of a different order—the outlet provided for the healthful play of energies cramped within the limits of an old society, and the sense, invigorating to the whole nation, of accomplishing a useful part in the world’s development.

Objections to every attempt on the part of a modern civilised State to undertake the government of inferior races have been urged on various grounds by writers of the highest reputation.

The barriers established by differences in mental condition, in traditions, and inherited ideas, between peoples in a different stage of development, are easily shown to create formidable difficulties in the way of mutual understanding and appreciation, which must precede all useful efforts to carry the less advanced races along the path of progress. The history of British India where, at least during the present century, the experiment has been tried on the largest scale, and with the most genuine regard for the welfare of the governed populations, supplies many an example of the errors inevitable in so difficult an enterprise. Measures devised with the best intentions have sometimes failed altogether in achieving the expected effect, or, when this has been attained, have created discontent, because not corresponding with the ideas of the native population.

How much better it would be, say objectors of this class, to let these backward races work out for themselves the problems of material and mental development, in conformity with the conditions which nature and history have imposed, than to attempt, in the face of your own admitted ignorance, to play the part of Providence towards them.

If the discussion were to turn upon the destiny of a country wherein the elementary conditions of social order had been secured, wherein progress of some kind, at however slow a pace, was not an impossibility, it might be possible to admit the force of these arguments. But it is forgotten that in point of fact most barbarous countries have failed to reach this indispensable preliminary stage. However diverse the conditions and the ideas of the human race, the primal requisites for social order are everywhere the same. Security for person and property, the protection of the weak against the strong, tribunals before which justice can be obtained without fear or favour—where these do not exist, the Power, whatever it may be, that confers them on a people is a beneficent one, and for the sake of these any errors that it may commit in its government will be condoned by posterity.

These remarks apply with especial force to such a country as Marocco, where, under the yoke of invaders, the greater part of the population has been for centuries constantly declining in material and mental condition.

When all has been said, it must be felt that theoretical considerations are little likely to prevail against that which history declares to be the uniform condition of human progress. As a general rule the most vigorous nations are those in which the increase of population is most rapid, and extension into new territories is their inevitable destiny. Statesmen and rulers may to some extent guide and control, but they are powerless to prevent the operation of natural laws. The choice, in regard to the inferior races, seems to be whether they shall fall under the rule of the stronger, and be gradually modified by the influence of new ideas and institutions, or whether they shall disappear altogether and give place to the new comer. Where, as has too often happened, the latter process is effected by injustice and violence, the evil to the world arises not so much from the loss of a race unfitted to bear the strain of competition, as from the moral deterioration that ensues to the invaders.

Amongst the opponents of the extension of European rule over the adjacent continents must be reckoned those who base their objections mainly on economic grounds. If the question of the French occupation of Marocco should arise in a practical shape, it is little likely that French statesmen will be withheld by considerations which, even in England, have not obtained wide acceptance; and it would be out of place to discuss them here. It is, indeed, impossible to deny that there is a share of truth in the views of those who hold that colonies and foreign possessions do not, as a general rule, directly add to the prosperity of a country. If the aim of any nation were merely to attain a high level of material well-being, and it could either restrain its citizens from intercourse with less civilised people, or be content to forego the duty of protecting them, it might be possible to avoid entering on the path which inevitably leads to extension of territory. Fortunately for the human race, such ideas never have prevailed among those nations which have played any important part in history. If the instinct of adventure, that has brought the more advanced races into contact with the barbarian and the savage, has always been alloyed by association with the baser passions of some, it has also been ennobled by the higher aims of others. To lay, in new regions, the foundations of civil society; to establish, more or less imperfectly, the reign of order and justice, and to secure the protection of the weak against the strong—these have been the tasks hitherto achieved by the ruling races of the world; and as knowledge has increased, as the difficulties of social progress have become better understood, and a stricter code of justice in dealing with the inferior races is gradually becoming established, it is allowable to hope that the inevitable changes may be accomplished with less of human suffering and with better success.

Rome might have been a happier State if its citizens had confined their ambition to make it a commercial emporium for the neighbouring tribes of middle Italy, and, content with self-defence, had refrained from all distant enterprise; Carthage need not have tempted her fate, if she had been satisfied with her own corner of Africa; but then the world would have had no history, and the series of changes from which modern civilisation has been developed would have been for ages, it may be for ever, delayed.

Of the entire African continent it may be truly asserted that, with the exception of the small portions held by England and France, its condition, for at least thirty centuries, has been either stationary or positively retrograde. The main cause that has maintained unbroken the long night of barbarism throughout so vast a region must be sought in the physical obstacles that prevented the ruling races of the world from extending their power southwards from the shores of the Mediterranean. For a time it appeared that the Saracen conquerors of North Africa were destined to spread the light of a relatively high civilisation over a great part of the continent. But that race is effete; it is gradually losing ground; and it remains for the nations that claim to lead the van in the onward march of the human race to undertake the work that awaits them.