Mogador

“ Having still nearly a hundred miles to cover before nightfall, we left Mogador shortly after luncheon and were soon running through the rather fertile lands of the Shiadma tribe. On the way we were overtaken by a cold wind and a terrific rain, whose veritable torrents of water, streaming down from the clouds, transformed the gray and yellowish fruit-trees into lovely greens and raised flowers in the seared and parched grasses, where none seemed to exist before. ”

“ The prosperity of Mogador is due to its commerce. The harbour is well sheltered from all winds except the south-west, but escape is difficult with the wind from that quarter, as the channel between the town and Mogador Island is narrow and hazardous. It is the best-built port of the sultanate and is generally second in point of trade, which is carried on mainly with Marseilles, London, Gibraltar and the Canaries, the principal exports being almonds, goat-skins, gums and olive-oil, and the principal imports cotton goods, sugar and tea. ”

“ Four months after the wreck of the Oswego, Captain Judah Paddock beheld a harbor and ships riding at anchor. The governor of Agadir, a portly, courteous Moor, commanded Ahamed to take his captives to Mogador without delay and deliver them up to the British consul. To Captain Paddock he declared:
“These Arabs are a set of thieves, robbers, and murderers, and from time immemorial they have been at war with the Moors and with all others within their reach. If there is any more trouble, I will keep you here a few days, when I shall be going myself to Mogador.” ”

“ There are two entrances to the port of Mogador; one from the south, which is quite open; the other from the north-west, which is only a narrow passage, with scarcely room to admit a ship-of-the-line. The 'Suffren,' in which the Prince de Joinville commanded the bombardment of the town, stood right over this entrance, on the northern channel, having south-east the Isle of Mogador, and north-west the coast of the Continent. The Prince took up a bold and critical position, exposed to violent currents, to grounding on a rocky bottom, and to many other serious accidents. ”

“ The American captain should be his own messenger into Mogador, with Ahamed and an escort to guard against escape, while the other sailors were held in the mountains as hostages.
This idea was favorably received, and after a wearisome journey Captain Judah Paddock rode into Mogador to find the British consul. When he entered the flat-roofed stone building above which flew the red cross of St. George, six or eight hearty-looking English sailors rushed forward to welcome him as a shipwrecked seamen. ”

“ Our bourne was Tarudant, a city in the province of the Sus, but rarely visited by Europeans, and of which no definite account exists by any traveller of repute. Only some hundred and fifty miles from Mogador, it yet continues almost untouched, the only Moorish city to which an air of mystery clings, and it remains the only place beyond the Atlas to the south in which the Sultan has a vestige of authority. [2]
Outside its walls the tribesmen live the old Arab life, all going armed, constantly fighting, each man’s hand against his neighbour, and, therefore, in a measure, raised against himself. ”

“ And yet the Sus is comparatively close to Mogador, [275] with which it trades; mules from the Sus were always in the Mogador market; camels were coming in every week with wool, camels' hair, goat-skins, hides, beeswax, a little gold dust, ostrich feathers, gum-arabic, cattle, and all the produce of the Sahara; while the Berbers from the Sus were interesting above any Riffis or tribesmen with whom we had hitherto met.
Their country is supposed to contain rich mines: it is said to be fertile and thickly populated; it is not loyal—on the contrary, it is ill-affected to its liege lord, the Sultan ”

“ There are no great deposits of goods on the coast, for as soon as the camels bring their loads of exports, these are shipped, and the camels immediately return to the interior, laden with imported goods or manufactures.
Mogador is the great commercial depôt of the Atlantic coast, and therefore "the beautiful Ishweira, the beloved town," of Muley Abd Errahman. Its trade is principally, however, with the south, the provinces of Sous and Wadnoun, and the Western Sahara. Mogador is also the bona-fide port of the southern capital of Morocco. ”

“ Love is out of the question, he never flutters his purple wings over the bridal bed of Mogador. A Jewish or Moorish girl having placed before her a rich, old ugly man, of mean and villanous character, of three score years and upwards, and by his side, a handsome youth of blameless character and amiable manners, will not hesitate a moment to prefer the former. ”

“ The governor of Swearah and the Emperor of Morocco are on good terms with the infidels’ Government; and they also hate us Arabs of the desert. There is no justice in Mogador for such as we. If you take your slaves into the city, you will lose them. ”

“ The merchants of Mogador have magazines here; this capital has also its caravans, which trade to the interior, passing through Wadnoun to the south.
The Imperial palace is without the city and fortified with strong walls. There are large gardens attached, in one of which the Emperor receives his merchants and the diplomatic agents. The air of the country, at the foot of the Atlas, is pure and salubrious. The city is well supplied with water from an aqueduct, connecting it with the river Tensift, which flows from the gorges of the Atlas. ”

“ Deprat and Cabannes, merchants at Mogador! It is to their patriotism that the return of the greater part of the unhappy shipwrecked persons is to be attributed. The extensive trade which they carry on in the interior parts of the country has established their reputation in all the towns, as well as in the capital. If their advice had been followed, how many accidents and misfortunes would have been prevented! ”

“ Each vessel pays forty dollars port-dues, which must press very heavily upon small vessels, but it is seldom that a vessel of less than one hundred tons is seen at Mogador. The grand staple exports are only two, gum and almonds; upon the sale of these, the commercial activity of this city entirely depends. English vessels come directly from London, the French from Marseilles; but so badly is this commerce managed that, at the present time, Morocco produce is higher in Mogador than it is in London or Marseilles; for instance, Morocco almonds are cheaper in London than 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 ”

“ In such a position, apparently deprived of the protection of the local authorities, we should certainly, it was said, be attacked by robbers, from whom our Mogador escort might not prove a secure defence. It was finally decided that our best course would be to encamp in the great open space beside the chief mosque and tower of the Koutoubia. Our men had been ordered not to unload the baggage, so we were immediately under way. In the twilight the filth and abjectness of all that met the eye were not so glaringly prominent as before ”

“ 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. ”

“ He was a long-limbed fellow, bronzed and bearded, with the vacant, glassy eyes of a kif-smoker; for kif kept him going often instead of food, and helped him to swing along day after day, untiring, like a camel, sleeping little, praying occasionally at a saint's tomb, fording the streams, trotting over the plains, his eyes fixed on the horizon—"eating the miles," as Arabs say. This particular rekass left Marrakesh on Monday morning at ten, and reached Mogador on Wednesday afternoon at three, doing his two hundred and seventy miles in forty-nine hours. ”

“ Notwithstanding the imbecile prejudices of the native Barbary Jews, such of them who adopt European habits, or who mix with European merchants, are tolerably good members of society, always endeavouring to restrain their own peculiarities. The European Jewesses settled in Mogador, are indeed the belles of society, and attend all the balls (such as they are) . The Jewess sooner forgets religious differences than the Jew, and I was told by a Christian lady, it would be a dangerous matter for a Christian gentleman to make an offer of marriage to a Mogador Jewess, unless in downright earnest ”

“ The native merchant is, in all cases, absolutely at the mercy of his imperial lord. On the bombardment of Mogador, all the native and resident traders, not excepting the English merchants, were found overwhelmed with debt, and, therefore, were not allowed to leave the country; and they were only saved from the pillage and massacre of the ferocious Berber tribes by a miracle of good luck. ”

“ These districts adjoin Mogador, the city belonging to Hhaha. Shedma is mostly lowland and plains, and Hhaha highlands and mountains, which form a portion of the south-western Atlas, and strike down into the sea at Santa Cruz. There seems to be no other reason for those frequent obstinate hostilities on both sides, except the nature of the country. It is lamentable to think, because "a narrow frith" divides two people, or because one lives in the mountains and the other in the plains, that therefore they should be enemies for ever! Strange infatuation of poor human nature. ”

“ We are now promised to be at Mogador to-morrow evening.
Wednesday, Feb. 24.—Therm. 56°. Much rain during the night, but we have fortunately had fine weather during the day. In our ride yesterday we passed many excavations in the side of the ravine which forms the bed of the river; in these the shepherds and their cattle herd together. The people here are said to be very Háramís. [75] Our course was W.N.W. for two hours; then W. by S. for two; then W.N.W. to N.W.: we passed several douars. The people here have evidently never seen a Christian. ”

“ A good Mussulman must however, marry once in his life. Slaves are imported viâ Wadnoun from Timbuctoo and Soudan, and even from the western coast. Negroes of the Timbuctoo market are more esteemed than those of Guinea, being a stronger and more laborious race. The common price of a slave in Mogador is from 60 to 90 ducats; one day a beautiful African girl, freshly exported from the interior, was sold for 160 ducats, or about £20 sterling. ”

“ They rarely descend to the plains or cities of the empire, and look upon the rest of the Jews of this country as heretics. Isolation thus begets enmity and mistrust, as in other cases. A few years ago, a number came to Mogador, and were not at all pleased with their visit, finding fault with everything among their brethren. These Jewish mountaineers are supposed to be very numerous. In their homes, they are inaccessible. So they live in a wild independence, professing a creed as free as their own mountain airs. God, who made the hills, made likewise man's freedom to abide therein. ”

“ I found, in fact, the greatest part of the Moorish population of Mogador coloured persons. We may here easily trace the origin of the epithet "Black-a-Moor," and we are not so surprised that Shakspeare made his Moor black; indeed, the present Emperor, Muley Abd Errahman, is of very dark complexion, though his features are not at all of the negro cast. But he has sons quite black, and with negro features, who, of course, are the children of negresses. One of these, is Governor of Rabat. In no country is the colour of the human skin so little thought of. ”

“ So much for northern Morocco. The same issue contains the following report from its Mogador correspondent regarding the "disturbed state" of southern Morocco.
"It would puzzle even the trained imagination of certain journalists we wot of to evolve anything alarmist out of the condition of the great tribes between Mogador and the Atlas. During the recent tribal differences not one single highway robbery, even of a native, was, I believe, committed. The roads are open everywhere ”

“ The discrepancies of age, in married people, is most unnatural and disgusting; whilst the merchants were at Morocco, a little girl of nine years of age was married to a man upwards of fifty. Ten and eleven is a common age for girls to be married. Much has been said of the reverence of children for their parents in the East, and tribes of people migrating therefrom, and the fifth commandment embodies the sentiment of the Eastern world. But there is little of this in Mogador ”

“ In the reign of Muley Ismail, Santa Cruz was the centre of an extensive commerce carried on between Europe and the remotest regions of Africa, which obtained for it the name of Bab-el-Soudan, (Gate of Soudan.) The inhabitants became rich and powerful, and, as a consequence which so frequently happens to both the civilized and the barbarian, insolent and rebellious. In 1773, Sidi Mohammed was obliged to march out against the town to crush a rebellion; and this done with great slaughter, he ordered all the European merchants to quit the place and establish themselves at Mogador. ”