John Buffa

“ The Jews are tolerably civilized in their manners, but are dreadfully oppressed by the Moors. Seldom a day passes but some gross outrage or violence is offered to the Jewish women, the generality of whom are very handsome, though their dress is by no means calculated to set off, but rather to detract from, their beauty.
Men, women, and children, still preserve the same costume as in the time of Moses. You cannot conceive any thing more ridiculous than the tout ensemble of a Barbary Jewess in full dress. ”

“ This tribe of freebooters appears to be quite a distinct set of people; they seem to have an invincible aversion to the Mahometan religion, and worship the sun and fire; they speak a different language from the rest of the inhabitants, a mixture of African and the old Arabic; all which circumstances favour their own report of themselves, which is, that they are the genuine descendants of the original inhabitants. They look down upon the more civilized Moors with contempt, and consider them as the real usurpers of their country, and the plunderers of their property. ”

“ One day I was asked by what means health was preserved, and what produced disease in the human body; I answered, that, "among several other remote causes, the air, by its different constitutions, had a great effect upon the human frame: that diseases revolve periodically, and keep time and measure exactly with the seasons of the year; and that either health or disease depended in some measure on the universal influence of the air, by its gravity, heat, cold, moisture, dryness, or exhalations." ”

“ The illiterate system of the Moors has also completely shut the door against the arts and sciences, and all knowledge of the value of a free and secure commerce. Yet, notwithstanding this people are no longer either in appearance or reality those fierce barbarians they once were, nor can their actions in point of valour bear any comparison with those of their ancestors, like them they retain a most inveterate antipathy to all Christians; and a propensity towards cruelty, revenge, rapine, and murder, still continues to form one of the most prominent features of their character. ”

“ They were to perform many wonderful things, such as tearing a live sheep in pieces, and devouring the flesh, fighting with wild beasts, and several other barbarous exhibitions. These people, called in Barbary Free Masons, are nothing more than a set of canting, roaring companions, surcharged with wine and other liquors, and assembled in this holy place, for the sole purpose of giving free vent to their brutal passions. This society is peculiar to itself, having no connexion with our ancient or modern Free Masons. ”

“ Although the plague is not so common in these states as in Turkey and Egypt, yet it is often brought hither by means of the caravans, and several articles of luxury imported annually by the merchants from Mecca and Medina; and, for want of proper precaution, it is suffered to spread, to desolate, and to stop of its own accord; for the Moors continue obstinately blinded by the same superstitious and absurd notions that are entertained by the Mahometans of the Turkish empire, of its being a punishment occasionally inflicted upon the true believers by their angry Prophet, and that it is incurable ”

“ The Governors commanding large districts or provinces in Barbary, are answerable for the crimes and misdemeanors committed in their governments, if they fail to bring the offenders to public justice; consequently they impose very heavy fines on the community, to impel them to seize, and deliver to them, the murderer or robber. The sudden and frequent changes in the public offices keep the most powerful Governors in the empire in continual awe and depression ”

“ Commanders of armed vessels putting into a port of these states should not, on any account, suffer their men to go on shore, as they are very apt to ridicule the Moors, who are a set of people not to be trifled with. To prevent, therefore, any unpleasant occurrences, that may tend to lessen the high opinion which the Moors in general entertain of the English, and in order to defeat the views of the French party, which are incessantly directed towards forming dangerous cabals against the interest of the British nation, some effectual means ought to be applied. ”

“ The number of Israelites subject to the Emperor of Morocco exceeds one hundred thousand. They are strictly guarded, and cruelly oppressed, and are not permitted to quit the states without a special leave from the Emperor, to obtain which they are obliged to pay down a large sum of money.
The authority of the Emperor is unlimited, as is that of his Governors, who possess a power of life and death. No rank nor condition of Moors is exempt from taxation, excepting the immediate princes of the blood, and the Xeriffes, which are the only degrees of nobility the Moors have. ”

“ Abdallah, the Governor of Fez, of the tribe of Benimecius, usurped the crown of his master. Of his successors, the only prince who took part in the Mahometan wars in Spain was Abul Hassen, who conquered Gibraltar, and built the fort which still retains the name of the Moorish Castle. He was dethroned and assassinated by his son, Abul Hassen, a ferocious and ambitious tyrant, who left a son, named Abu-Said, of a very depraved character, in whose reign Ceuta, after a long siege, was taken by Don John, King of Portugal. ”

“ A blind obedience to the will of their Sovereign, is inculcated in the minds of their youth, more as a matter of religion than of state; and the Emperor may put as many of his subjects to death as he deems expedient, without assigning any other motive for so doing than secret inspiration. When at war with any Christian prince, it is considered as a war of religion, and the Moors who fall in the field of battle, are accounted martyrs. ”

“ Every person who is acquainted with the situation of Ceuta, the rival of Gibraltar, must be very much astonished, that it should still be permitted to remain in the possession of the Spaniards, since a squadron of men of war, and a flotilla of gun and bomb vessels, might reduce it, even without the assistance, of the Moors; and thereby England would be sole mistress of the entrance to the Mediterranean. Convoys could collect in safety at Ceuta, and our trade in this sea be comparatively secure from annoyance. ”

“ They never move their turbans, but pull off their slippers, when they attend religious duties, or their Sovereign, or visit their relatives, friends, priests, or civil and military officers.
The Moorish gentry are clean in their persons, in their manners tolerably genteel and complaisant, far from being loquacious, though not prone to reflection. They possess an unbounded degree of duplicity and flattery; are perfectly strangers to the notions of truth and honour, promising a thing one day which they utterly deny the next. They are less irascible than many other nations ”

“ From the great affinity between the manners and customs of these country Moors, and the Scenite Arabs, the inhabitants of Arabia Deserta, we may naturally infer that they must have derived those habits from the latter.
They reside in villages composed of tents to the number of forty or fifty, which they remove at pleasure; when the pasture fails in one valley, they strike their tents, and seek another, where they remain till the same necessity impels them to quit that in its turn. This was precisely the custom of the Arabes Scenitæ. ”

“ When any one of them (by chance) effects what he considers a great cure, it is communicated in a circular letter to all the doctors in Barbary.
They select one of their elders every year, and appoint him to preside over them. His business, for the time being, is to settle all their controversies: he is the fountain of all justice among them; for as they are looked upon to be petty saints, they are a privileged set of men, and not in the least subject to either civil or military jurisdiction. ”

“ There is a regular communication between the houses at the top, which is the favourite scene of recreation. Some of the women scarcely ever take the air, excepting on these flat roofs: in short, the inhabitants, both Jews and Moors, dance, sing, and take all their amusements on them. The rooms of the Jewish houses (as well as of the Moors) are long, narrow, and lofty, resembling galleries. Most of the houses are occupied by several families, which are generally large. Those inhabited by the more opulent are kept tolerably neat, and are adorned with rich and curious furniture ”

“ Perceiving four of our sailors likely to become the victims of an enraged multitude, I hastened to their relief. I found that the disturbance was occasioned by their imprudence in attempting to inspect the face of a Moorish woman. They belonged to a Gibraltar privateer, which had just arrived at this port to take in refreshment. Having drank too much aguardiente they imagined themselves in the streets of Gibraltar. I found no great difficulty in prevailing on the mob not to injure them, and in ensuring them a safe conduct back to their vessel. ”

“ The surface of the ground being an uneven rock, which every where remains unlevelled, the streets consist of abrupt ascents and descents, even worse than those of Larache; they are also extremely narrow and dirty; and as the houses have no windows towards the streets, you in fact pass along between two dead walls, almost suffocated by a hot and fetid atmosphere.
When we reached the house of the Vice-consul, I was presented with a glass of aguardiente, for refreshment. After having passed the evening in the company of a numerous party of Barbary Jews, I retired to bed ”

“ In niches within these piazzas, the Moors perform their ablutions before they enter the mosques. Attached to each mosque is a tower, with three small open galleries, one above another, whence the people are called to prayer, not by a bell, but by an officer appointed for that duty. These towers, as well as the mosques, are covered with lead, and adorned with gilding, and tiles of variegated colours. No woman is allowed to enter the Moorish places of worship.
Several of the aqueducts, which were constructed by the Carthaginians and Romans, are still to be seen ”

“ The pleasure-ground is laid out with great taste in orange groves; the gardens abound in fruit-trees, and the Consul has made a curious botanical collection.
I have just been interrupted by Mr. Matra, our Consul. He called to request me to go up to Larache, to attend the Governor, who is dangerously ill, and has sent here for an English physician. I intended to have continued a brief account of this empire, from the time it became a Roman province to the introduction of Mahometanism; also by what means the Moors became mixed with Arabs: but I must reserve this for the next opportunity. ”

“ In the second class, we may place the efforts of the architectural and mechanical genius of the present inhabitants, exemplified in the wonderful aqueducts at Morocco, which commence in Mount Atlas (by the natives called Gibbel-el-Hadith) , and convey water in the greatest abundance to all the houses of the city and its environs. Nor is the wheel at Fez, which I mentioned in a former letter, less worthy of remark; and several mausoleums in their burial-places have been constructed in a very costly style, the stucco of the walls being remarkably smooth and beautiful, and as hard as marble ”

“ While in this attitude, the animal approached him, ceased roaring, smelt him two or three times, then walked majestically round him, and gave him now and then a gentle whisk with his tail, which seemed to signify that he might rise, as he would not hurt him; finding the man still continue motionless with fear, he retreated a few paces, and laid himself down like a dog. ”

“ The dress of the Moorish army differs very little from that of the people. The officers are distinguished by their turbans, from the privates, who wear red caps. They are considered most excellent horsemen, and appeared to be supplied with very fine young horses, and well appointed. I can say but little of the infantry and artillery of His Imperial Majesty, not having had an opportunity of seeing them assemble in any sort of exercise. The cavalry are unquestionably most capital marksmen, and very capable of annoying and harassing and checking the progress of an invading army. ”

“ The present Emperor, Muley Solyman, was the youngest prince, and lived retired in the city of Fez, assiduously occupied in studying the Alcoran and the laws of the empire, in order to qualify himself for the office of high-priest, which he was intended to fill. From this retreat he was called by the priests, the highest in repute as saints, in the neighbourhood of Fez, and a small party of the Moorish militia, and by them prevailed upon to come forward as a candidate for the crown, in opposition to his three brothers, who were waging war with each other, at the head of numerous forces. ”

“ There is not the smallest difference, in the construction of these houses, from those of Fez; though the inhabitants differ very materially. The men are of a short, thick, muscular make, and swarthy complexion, with long black beards and black eyes. The women are excessively handsome, and remarkably fair; nor are they devoid of neatness and elegance in their dress. They improve the beauty of their eyes with paint.
The Moorish inhabitants of this city are all militia-men, entirely at the disposal of the Emperor. They are excellent horsemen, expert at the sword and lance ”

“ The Jewish town is commanded by an Alcaid, who cannot however shield its unfortunate inhabitants from oppression and insults. These people are obliged to walk barefooted through the Moorish streets; and they suffer the greatest outrages without a murmur, nay, some of them have been actually murdered in the act of selling their goods to the Moors. No Christian is allowed to appear publicly in the streets of Fez, without a special permission from the Emperor, and a military escort. ”

“ It is not all surprising that such unjustifiable cruelty should kindle disgust in the minds of those who were not totally divested of the feelings of humanity. Several of his provinces rebelled, but he successively reduced them to obedience; and in the last battle which he fought, before the city of Morocco, and gained, he was severely wounded. The rebel army was surrounded, and defeated with great slaughter. Muley Yezid was carried to the castle, and his wound dressed ”