AT A GLANeE 1 LYMINGTON: PRINTED BY CHAS. T. KING, HIGH STREET. 1889. • , {'11:' ..' j} : r'. ,(.,; " _" ..,.- JJ--~. l , ..... * )'1 Y' f ~ r r {) ! O\-'.J~ 4-l' 0JJ(e . • • • • • \ PREFACE. -0- OR those who wish to .spend the winter in an P equable and pleasant c1imate at no great distance from England, and who may desire to vary their usual visits to Lisbon, Madeira, the Canaries, the Riviera, Italy, Malta, Aigiers or Egypt, a trip to Marocco, will be found worthy of their attention. Leaving Tilbury by Peninsular and Oriental steamer on a Wednesday afternoon, we arrived early on the following Monday at Gibraltar, and after remaining a day to see all that is worth seeing there, we crossed the straits, by the small but comfortable steamer "Gibel Tarik," in three hours to Tangier, where we found excellent hotel accomodation and agreeable society. T 0 many persons, unaccustomed to the sea, the Bay of Biscay is fraught with terror, as synonymous of stormy winds, and raging billows, but it is not always so, for the last four times we crossed it, the sea was as smooth as a mill pond. The run down the Thames, through the Downs, and past Dover and the different headlands and lighthouses is not without interest. The pilot is discharged off Saint Catherine's Point very early in the • IV PREFACE. morning, and when we went on deck after breakfast we were running down Channel out of sight of land. Ushant is not generally seen, and there is nothing to break the monotony of the voyage, save the occasional passing of a vessel, until Saturday morning, when we sighted Cape Finisterre and ran along the coast of Spain and Portugal at a respectful distance. We rounded Cape St, Vincent before dinner on Sunday, and communicated, by signal with the telegraph station, from whence the time of the steamer's passing that place is conveyed, by message, to the Company's Agent at Gibraltar. It was off Cape St. Vincent that Sir John J ervis, with a squadron of fifteen vessels, defeated a Spanish fieet of twenty-seven ships of the line on si. Valentine's day 1797. Very early on Monday morning we passed the scene of Nelson's great victory off Cape Trafalgar, and we reached Gibraltar about breakfast time, the steamer anchoring near the Ragged Staff battery, where there is a convenient landing place, a few minutes walk from the Royal Hotel. Gibraltar, the ancient Calpe, was captured by Sir George Rooke and AdmiraI Byng, on the 24th of July, 17ü!, and has remained a British fortress since that time, in spite of every attempt which had been made to wrest it from us. A visit to the galleries hewn in the rock, and ta the signal station, from which we PREFACE. v enjoyed a fine view of the Spanish and African coasts, and thence to O'Rara's tower, and down the Mediter­ ranean steps to the Governor's summer residence, and to Europa point, then back through the Alameda to the hote!, occupied about four hours. We saw all the monkeys, twenty-nine in number, basking and gamboll­ ing on the old wall which descends from a gate-way near the signal station to the Spanish gate, sorne of them coming within a few yards to inspect us. A drive across the neutral ground ta the Spanish lines, and a stroll to Catalan bay, concluded the sights of the place, and after looking in at the Club, where there is a good library, we were glad ta retire early to rest. Next morning we started at 10 o'clock by the "Gibel Tarik" and anchored in Tangier bay shortly before 2 p.m. On landing we took up our quarters at Mr, Ansaldo's "Continental Ratel," where we were mast comfortable during our sojourn at Tangier. In penning " Marocco at a glance," we do not aspire to any nove1ty. Marocco is a country of stagnation, weighed down by apathy and fanaticism. All that has been faithfully written of it, and its people, years aga, is mostly applicable now, We have endeavoured only to arrange and present this work in a compehensive, interesting and consecu­ tive forrn, 50 as ta convey ta the Reader as correct an idea as possible of the country as it is at present. • VI PREFACE. We are indebted for much of the information con­ tained in these pages to several kind friends, whose acquaintance we had the good fortune to make during our visit to Marocco, but we have borrowed freely from the descriptions given by Jackson, Beauclerk, Brooke, Rholfs, Marceau, Erckmann, and other travellers in that country. For a few particulars of the Moslem Creed, we have had recourse to Sale's, and to Rodwell's translations of the Koran, In the historical sketch of the country, we have closely followed D'Herbelot, Marmol, and Chenier, especially in that portion relating to the present dynasty of the Tafilali, and we have condensed it as much as possible, for the history of Marocco, from beginning to end, is a repetition of the same tales of cruelty, revolution, treachery and bloodshed. -'------ • CONTENTS. CliAPTER. PAGE... PREFACE • •• • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 111 1. GEOG RAPHY-CLIMATE-PRODUCTIONS. ... •.. 1 II. ANCIENT AND MODERN DIVISIONS-POPULATION, Jl~\\IS. .. 6 III. MOORS - EDUCATION - RELIGION - MUSIC- WOMEN. ...................... .. 15 IV. GOVERNMENT-ARMY-FOREIGN LEGATIONS. .. 26 V. EXTORTION - THE GHELABIR - TORTURE - PROTEGE SYSTEM. .•. ... '" •.. ... .. 33 VI. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE - PRISONS- CASE OF EL KAISA. ... ... .. .. 41 VII. SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE 'l'RADE. .. 49 VIII. POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS-BRITISH INTERESTS IN MAROCCO. .., .... ... ... •.• .., , .. IX. TANGIER-SHREEF OF WAZAN-'-POWDER PLAY- THE AISSAOUA. x. PORTS-TETUAN, LARAICHE, MEHEDIAH, RABAT, CASABLANCA AZIMOOR, MAZAGAN, SAFFI, MOGADOR, AGADIR, ASSAKA. '" ... ... '" 74 FEZ, MEQUINEZ, MARAKESH, WAZAN. ,.. .,. ... 8,3 • • • Vill CONTENTS. XII. TRADE OF MAROCCO-ABUSES AND IRREGULAR- ITIES. ... o.., ... ... ... '" ••• ... XIII. HISTORICAL RESUME FROM MAHOMET'S DEATH TO THE CAPTURE OF GRANADA. '" ... ... 102 XIV. DITTO-CONTINUED DOWN TO THE DYNASTY OF THE TAFILALI. ... • • • • • •• • • • ••• • • 116 XV. DITTO - MULEY SHEREEF, SIDI MOHAMMED, MULEY ARSCHID, THE CHABANETS, 125 TORTURES. XVI. DITTO-1672 TO 1727-MULEY ISMAELS REIGN. 132 XVII. DITTO-1727 TO 18S9-MULEY ACHMET DEHABY, MULEY ABDALLAH-SIDI MOHAMMED-MULEY YAZEED-MULEY SOLIMAN-MULEY ABD-AR- RHAMAN. .. • • •• • • •• • •• • • ••• •• XVIII. DITTO-18S9 TO 1888-SIDI MOHAMMED- MULEY HASSAN. • • • • • ••• ••• • •• • • •• 149 • AROCCO. --0-- CHAPTER 1. GEOGRAPHY-CLIMATE-PRODUCTIONS. HE Empire of Maroeco, called by the natives " Al Moghreb-al-Alî,sa," or "the extreme West," is situated between 27 0 and 360 N. latitude, and between 10 20' and 11 0 30' W. longtitude. Its superficial erea is estimated at 314000 square miles, or about one third larger than Spain and Portugal, the surface being extremely diversified, and its physical character being one of the grandest in Africa. The Atlas range traverses it in its greatest length from mount Beni-Aramer, south of the desert of Angad, on the Algerian frontier, to capes Gher and Nun, on the Atl.antic, with numerous spurs or lateral branches, one of w~Ich terminates in Djebel Azute, or Ape's hill, opposite GIbraltar. Some of the plains and valleys are of great ext~nt and extraordinary fertility. Wheat, barley, rice, malze, doura, and several kinds of peas and beans are extensively grown. Cotton, hemp, tobacco, sesamum, saffron, henna, sugarcane, millet and other seeds are also 2 MAROCCO. cultivated. Date, olive and almond trees abound, as well as the fruit trees of Southern Europe, especially the fig, the orange, the vine and the pomegranate. On the whole, however, not more than a third of the arable land is cultivated, and this in so superficial a manner, that, by a better system of tillage, the production might be quadrupled, for owing perhaps to the extreme fertility of the soil which yields luxuriant crops with little care or attention, agriculture is in a most backward state, the methods and implements employed being of the most primitive description. There are extensive forests in various parts of the empire, and forest trees are plentiful on bath slopes of the great Atlas. Holme oaks, locust, cork and juniper trees, and immense quantities of date palms are found in the plains, but there is a great scarcity of good building timber. The Argan tree is peculiar to the country south of the river Tensift, its fruit being much prized as food for camels, sheep and goats, whilst from the white kernel enclosed in the stone of the fruit is extracted a bitter nauseous ail which is highly esteemed by the natives. The Arâar, another valuable tree, yielding a fragrant, heavy, close grained wood, much used in cabinet work, and very useful both for building, as well as for naval construction, is also found near Rabat and in the same region. Very little is known of the mineral wealth of Marocco. It is almost wholly undeveloped, and includes gold, silver, antimony, lead, copper, tin, sulphur, fuller's earth and rock salt, Iron in nearly a metallic state, is found in Sus. Domestic animals of every kind are numerous, especially sheep and goats. Asses, camels, cows and bullocks are also reared in considerable numbers. Wild boars are plentiful, and are hunted with the spear as in India. There are hyenas, lynxes, jackals, antelopes and gazelles in sorne parts of the empire, and abundance of small game, such as partridges, quail, ducks, etc. MAROCCO. 3 The climate is as a rule healthy and genial, and not nearly sa hot as might be expected from the geographical position of the country. A great portion of the empire IS subject ta the alternation of sea and land breezes, and those districts of the interior which lay beyond their reach • are cooled to some extent by the wincls which blow from the mountains.