Chapter IX: Letter I

_On the opening of the Port of Agadeer, or Santa Cruz in Suse, and
of its Cession by the Emperor Muley Yezzid, to the Dutch._

TO JAMES WILLIS, ESQ.

(Late British Consul for Senegambia) Eversholt, near Woburn,
Bedfordshire.

Mogodor, 28th February, 1792.

The emperor has consented to the proposition of the Dutch
government, to open the port of Agadeer, or Santa Cruz, in the
province of Suse, to the commerce of that nation; and I have
finally resolved to establish a house there, so soon as the sultan
Yezzid's order respecting that port shall reach the hands of Alkaid
Aumer ben Daudy, the governor of this port. There are various
political intrigues in agitation, to deter me from going personally
56 to establish the commerce of this most desirable and long-neglected
port of Santa Cruz. The governor anticipates a considerable
diminution in the treasury of Mogodor; and the merchants of this
place anticipate a great diminution of the various articles of
produce of this fine country, seeing that the principal articles of
exportation from the empire of Marocco are produced in the province
of Suse, and in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz.

The stream of commerce will, therefore, necessarily be converted
from Mogodor to Santa Cruz. The merchants of Fas also, who have
their establishments and connections at Timbuctoo, and in other
parts of Sudan, will resort to Santa Cruz in preference to Mogodor,
for all European articles calculated for the markets of Sudan, the
former port being in the neighbourhood of the desert, or Sahara,
and at a convenient distance from Akka in Lower Suse, the general
rendezvous of the akkaba, (or accumulated caravans,) destined for
the interior regions of Africa or Sudan. This akkaba starts
annually for Timbuctoo, consisting of 2000 or 3000 camels, loaded
with merchandise from Fas, Tetuan, Sallee, Mogodor, Marocco,
Tafilelt, Draha, and Terodant. The port of Santa Cruz is hence
57 aptly denominated _Beb Sudan_, i.e. the gate or entrance of Sudan.
The port of Santa Cruz was formerly farmed by the emperor[94] Muley
Ishmael, to some European power, for 50,000 dollars a-year, as I
have been informed; others say it was purchased of him by his own
Jewish subjects, for the purposes of trade. However this may have
been, no advantage was ever taken of the favourable opportunity
then offered, of opening and securing to Europe an extensive and
lucrative trade with the various countries of Sudan or Nigritia.

I can account for this omission only by supposing that the interior
of Africa was then less known than even it now is; and that the
merchants then established at Santa Cruz, had there sufficient
advantages in commerce to engage their attention, without examining
into this immense undiscovered mine of wealth!

[Footnote 94: Great-grandfather of Muley Soliman, the present
emperor, who is denominated Soliman ben Muhamed ben Abdallah
ben Ismael.]
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