Louisa Annette Edla Drummond-Hay Brooks

“ Royal honours paid us everywhere, not a word, not a gesture, not a look that could be called unfriendly. From the pompous Basha down to the humble labourer, all vie in being civil to the Englishman who has been, as they say, the friend of the Moor, and who loves ‘justice.’ Even the women don’t hide their faces, or run away from me, but smile brightly at my grey beard when I peer over the terrace wall, though they are more shy when my young friends attempt to have a look at them, in their smart dresses, walking on the terraces. ”

“ The Sultan’s harem is principally supplied from this part of the Empire. I have caught a glimpse of two or three very fine-looking damsels. Their features are very delicate, eyes as black as jet, with eyelashes that hang on the cheek when the eyes are closed. Their figures also are graceful, but the rags they wear would completely spoil their appearance, were it not that they barely conceal their well-turned limbs. The country was better cultivated than any we had yet seen, the barley and wheat already far advanced in the ear and looking splendid. ”

“ I might have fancied myself in a Danish room—in Denmark—and yet I was in another quarter of the globe.
In this house there was every English convenience, even to a fireplace; and from the balcony we looked out upon the little garden where oleander bloomed amidst the variegated bell-flowers I had seen in the churchyard at Gibraltar. A large palm-tree raised its lofty head in the clear moonlit air, and imparted to the view its foreign appearance. ”

“ With one exception, the only cases where I have been appealed to, to intervene in behalf of slaves, have been to beg that the masters should not give their slaves liberty! They preferred, they said, a comfortable home! Of course it is desirable that slavery should be abolished even in Morocco; but it would be a hopeless task to urge upon the Moorish Government the abolition of a domestic institution, admitted by the laws of the Prophet, unless England had an opportunity of rendering Morocco some great service, such as preventing her being attacked by a stronger Power. ”

“ You say that you have influence over your father: tell him to convey me at once, a prisoner, to the Sultan, to whom I can render great service. Not only will His Majesty employ me, but your father, by taking me to the Court, will rise into high favour. I am João, the well-known Portuguese gunsmith, who forges twisted barrels, a craft unknown in Morocco. Before the battle so fatal to us Portuguese, your Sultan, Mulai Abdelmalek, dispatched a secret messenger to Tangier, and offered me a handsome sum of money and high wages if I would go to Fas and enter his service. ”

“ Sir John, as Master of the Hunt, shared in the very liberal abuse indulged in by the men who had laboriously driven the boar from the thick coverts towards him and his friends, native and foreign, who waited to shoot the pigs as they broke. Every possible term of abuse—and Arabic is rich in such—together with imprecations such as only Oriental imagination could devise, would be yelled at them as a warning not to miss. Strangers too would always be indicated by any peculiarity in their appearance or dress. Neither did the excited beaters, at such moments, put any check on their rough wit. ”

“ God forbid that we should ever have to fight against warriors like yourself.’
I replied that neither as a horseman nor as a marksman could I compare myself with many of my countrymen, and that I felt persuaded if only the Moors would adopt the saddles and firearms of Europeans, they would not only be able to do all that we could, but that, as a grand race of men, blessed by God with muscular power and great intelligence, they might surpass us, as their forefathers had done in Spain a few centuries ago, when they taught the world literature, science, and warfare. ”

“ If his rider fell, or a hole brought ‘Snabi’ on his head, the nag would get up and stand by, putting his head down, and looking with anxious eyes, as if to say, ‘Get up quickly, the pig is making off.’—‘Snabi’ had belonged to Kaid Meno, the Colonel of the Berber regiment of Askar, and had often been in action when his master was sent by the Sultan in command of a detachment to ‘eat up’ some rebellious tribe. There were several scars on ‘Snabi’s’ dun coat—which, in the sun, shone like gold. One ball could be distinctly felt in his neck. ”

“ Around my house, groups of respectable men may be seen listening to the wondrous tales of Kaid Abd-el-Kerim or of my groom. The old chief hunter, Hadj Abdallah, sits in his village—amidst a motley crowd of Arabs and Rifians—telling them of the magnificence and wonders of London, and the kindness the poor Moors received, from the Queen down to the servants that assisted them. He proclaims loudly to the astonished fanatics that power, wealth, honesty, and charity are to be found in the land of the Infidel and not in the land of the Moslem. ”

“ Kaid Maimon was a man of undaunted courage: while realising it would be folly for him to draw his sword and attack the lion, as he would most probably be worsted in such a conflict, he was also aware that even should he succeed in dealing the beast a death-blow, his own life would be forfeited; as the Sultan would, no doubt, order his head to be cut off, for destroying the royal gift entrusted to his keeping for the King of Portugal. ”

“ The Kaid’s agitation increased; unconsciously his body swayed in time to the movements of the Hamadsha.
Quicker and yet quicker moved the measure of the drums. The Kaid dashed aside his turban, exposing his bare skull. A few more moments passed and the strain became too great: the fat commander leapt to his feet, and, casting his garments from him, naked to the waist, he joined the circling, rocking fanatics.
At one side of the courtyard, near a fountain which spouted from the wall, were placed several monster earthen jars, intended for keeping drinking water clear and sweet. ”

“ Their descendants inherit the same blood, bone, and brain; therefore it is to be inferred that, under a just Government, with security of life and property, the Moorish people might again rise and become, as their ancestors were, one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world.
‘At the present time the Government of Morocco is like a community of fishes. The giant fish feed upon those that are small, the smaller upon the least, and these again feed on the worms. ”

“ The hunters, who had viewed the chase from the side of the hill, and had been hallooing joyously on witnessing the pig, horse, and me tumble into the ditch, were greatly amused in aiding me to remove the thick coating of grey mud which shrouded my person, my gun, and the body of my horse.
On another occasion, when a very large boar, slightly wounded, was making up the side of a rocky hill, bare of bush, a strange Moor, with a long gun, who had joined the hunt, ran along the open to a narrow path where the boar would have to pass, and squatted down to pot him. ”

“ The daily ride, the evening camp, our first view of the great Atlas range of mountains, the entry into Marákesh, our reception by the Sultan, and the six weeks we spent in the city but little known to Europeans; and it was, perhaps, the events of that journey which impressed one more than anything as to the individuality and power of the British Representative.
By many Sir John will also be remembered as an ardent sportsman. ”

“ João rubbed his eyes again to make sure it was not a dream. ‘I can ride,’ he replied; ‘I have no fear of death, and I feel happy now that a woman’s pity has fallen on me.’
‘See, Nazarene!’ she said, taking a key from her bosom, ‘this, which I drew from beneath the pillow of my sleeping father, will release you.’ So saying she bent and unlocked the fetters; then, pointing to a saddle and bridle hanging in the stable, she continued, ‘Put those on the gray mare; she is the fastest animal in the village. ”

“ One of the elder Chiefs rose and cried out, ‘Let the English Chief speak! What he says is true! Those who rob and murder on the seas innocent people are not Mussulmans, for they do not obey the law of God.’
I continued: ‘Hear what your wise Chief says. I fancied I heard a sound like the click of a gun being cocked. Some foolish boys must be sitting amongst the assembly, for no brave Rifians, Benibugaffers included, would ever commit a cowardly murder on an unarmed man who has come amongst you trusting to the honour and friendship between the Rifians and English from ancient times. ”

“ One very dark night I managed to approach so noiselessly along a narrow path through a copse which led to an orchard—where I had heard from the windows of my villa at ‘Ravensrock’ a boar eating apples—that I actually pushed my knee against the boar, who had his snout in an opposite direction, before either of us became aware that we were at close quarters. My gun was not cocked, for I did not expect to have to use it until I entered the orchard, where I supposed the boar to be still feeding. The leap I made in the air was not more frantic than that of the boar, who jumped into the thicket. ”

“ João replied that he had no complaint to make against any one, but that he had a sorrow at heart which he could not make known to the Sultan, lest it might cause His Majesty’s displeasure.
‘Speak,’ said the Sultan; ‘have no fear. Any one who may have offended you shall be punished. Whatever you ask shall be granted: what I promise shall be fulfilled. Speak out boldly.’
João obeyed and told the Sultan the story of his capture, condemnation to death, and release at the intercession of the Sheikh’s daughter. ”

“ The Jews have sent a deputation and address. Moors pour in with lamentations. Torras weeps in a letter. Even British subjects join in the wail, whilst I continue to sing, ‘O be joyful.’
Alas! dinners and lunches are the disorder of the day; and speeches, which being pathetic about our departure, choke me and prevent a fitting response.
July 4, 1886. Here I am, with my harness off, kicking my heels like an old horse turned out to grass. So glad to send dispatches and letters to my address to the Chargé d’Affaires. ”

“ A serious decline in commerce since 1801 had therefore ensued.
In pressing on the Sultan the necessity for a new Convention, Mr. Hay pointed out that the proposals he had to make were as much for the benefit of the Moorish Government as for that of his own. The Sultan reigned over a country equal to any in resources, and inhabited by a hardy and intelligent race. There was therefore no reason, urged Mr. Hay, why, under wise direction, it should not equal any other in prosperity. Yet, so far from being prosperous, scarcity of coin and great poverty prevailed throughout the country. ”

“ Though he told me and other colleagues he had no affair of importance at Fas, we know better. He aims at obtaining what France wants by cajolery and presents. He eschews menace and force. He is more dangerous and far more able than his predecessor. I shall, I think, get on well with him; I cannot blame him for playing the game which suits his country. If England had been as contiguous to Morocco as is France, I think ere this we should have annexed this misgoverned country; but it would never do for us that France should hold the Straits—the gut of commerce, the passage to India and the East. ”

“ One evening, after the tents had been pitched, and while Kaid Maimon was reposing on a divan in his ‘kubba,’ he heard shouts of alarm and the snorting and tramping of horses and mules which had broken loose from their tethers and were fleeing from the camp.
The Kaid clapped his hands repeatedly, to summon his attendants, but no one appeared. Being too much of [304] a Moorish grandee to rise from the divan and see with his own eyes what had happened—such a proceeding would have been undignified—he remained seated, counting the beads of his rosary and muttering curses on his attendants. ”

“ During his stay in Fas, Sir John had several absolutely private audiences with the Sultan, at which he reiterated all his former arguments and suggestions. He pointed out that countries smaller than Morocco—and with perhaps fewer resources—yet commanded greater revenues, though their peoples were not over-taxed. In such countries the security of property encouraged the natives in industrial enterprises. No dread of confiscation prevented the accumulation of wealth; and the justice and integrity of the administrative and judicial system made the inhabitants happy, prosperous, and contented. ”

“ The various troops of horse having fallen in, the open plain presented a beautiful and animated sight. Flying either past or to meet us, came every moment the charging troopers in their brilliant flowing drapery, firing when close to Sir John. In front of us moved the mountaineers, also firing as they performed the different and curious gun-dances of their tribes; or, if natives of Sus, twirling and throwing their loaded guns and naked daggers high in the air to catch them as they fell. ”

“ The form of Government in Morocco is the worst in the world. No officials except the Customs Officers are paid. The consequence is that all live by peculation, extortion, and bribery; or, in the words of a Moor describing the system, ‘We are like fishes—the big live by eating up the small.’ The population is reduced to misery by the avarice of the Governors, and the latter, who have to send twice a year large sums of money to satisfy the rapacity of the Ministers, are constantly killing the geese (the farmers) to get the golden eggs. ”