Chapter XX

Return to Tangier—Difficult task of English Representative—Obstacles
to collecting information—Photographs—Ethnology—Berbers and
Arabs—Bokhári—Moors—Further results of Mission—Conclusion.

_British Legation, Tangier, 26th May 1880._

His Excellency, unlike some of his colleagues, does not care to herald his return by the pomp and circumstance which attended his departure, so sent in the escort with its red standard, which has been carried in front of the column during all our wanderings, by a different route from the one we took. On the road we met some officers of the Sultan’s army on their way to the fighting near Wazan. We had seen their encampment of five bell tents about two miles from our own last night, but had thought they were tourists from Gibraltar being “personally conducted” into the desert by Hadj Kadór, the handsome Muhammed, or one of the numerous caterers to the untiring energy of English travellers. A few of the residents of Tangier had ridden out some distance to meet us, and many were the respectful salutations and cries of “Marhaba bík, Bashador,” which greeted the Envoy before we arrived once more at the door of the Legation. And now, though our Mission to the Court of Mulai Hassan has become a thing of the past, I think it will be long before all the strange sights we saw in this almost unknown land of Western Islam, and in its sacred towns, pass away from our recollections; nor shall we lightly forget the pleasant companionship which has existed among us for the last eight weeks. Our chief,—to whom the expedition has been by no means a holiday,—now returns to his former labour of Hercules in the way of watching over the affairs of Marocco in connection with England, and guarding the interests here of this unhappy empire, so highly favoured by God, and so cursed and depreciated by man. In no part of the world where England is represented is this task harder of accomplishment, nowhere are there more obstacles, in the way of jealousy, ignorance, and fanaticism, to be overcome. At the same time, it must be a satisfaction to the Government at home, and to the public interested in this country, to feel that, in the judgment of all who are competent to form an opinion, the duty could not have been placed in abler or more skilful hands.

Besides having had exceptional opportunities of seeing the interior of the empire, and studying the social and political condition of the people, we have performed our journey with a degree of comfort and safety which does not fall to the lot of the ordinary traveller. I do not know that we can boast of having added many archæological or geographical facts to those already collected by former travellers; but it must be remembered we were a formidable party in point of numbers, and our itinerary having been strictly laid down by the Sultan, we could not strike off into a new line for the sake of exploring the many places which lay about a day’s march from our route, even though they possessed exceptional historical interest. This was more especially to be regretted in the latter half of our journey, viz. from Rabât here, as the district is singularly rich in monuments of early Greek and Roman occupation. The most unexplored part of the country through which we passed was between Volubilis and Rabât; and though the blinding rain which then fell almost incessantly prevented our noting more than the actual direction of the march, while the close proximity of the Zemmúr and other dangerous tribes rendered it difficult to carry on investigations which took one at all off the track, I am not without hope that the modicum of information collected about this unknown region may prove of service to geographers.

The collection of photographs taken by “our artist” are in themselves most interesting, and but for the tiresome scruples of the natives against allowing themselves to be taken, some useful contribution towards the ethnology of the various tribes through which we passed might have been thus procured. To the ethnologist, indeed, a study of the different races settled in Marocco would be extremely interesting, as they would seem to be more clearly marked and separate here than in almost any country which has been subjected to so many invasions in former ages. The two most distinctive types seem to me to be those of the Brebbers or Berbers (whence the name Barbary), and the Arabs—distinct not only in appearance but in their habits and manner of life. We came upon the Berbers at Beni Aamer, Mikkès, the forest of Mamora, and in various villages along the coast; and there is said to be no doubt but that they are direct descendants of the people whom the Phœnicians, and later on the Romans, found in Marocco. The word Brebber or Berber signifies anything indigenous, and the race which bears the name seems to have intermarried very little with the Roman invaders, or with the Goths who followed them, and possesses to this day a more strongly-marked individuality than probably any other people in existence. Of their language, sometimes called “Shellah,” little is known. It is unlike Arabic, but is remotely allied to Coptic, which, with it, is classed by philologists among the languages called “Hamitic.” The group of servants opposite page 32 are of pure Berber extraction, while the villagers who appear in the photograph of Habassi opposite page 60 are all Arabs. Rohlfs tells us the Berbers are more civilisable and less bigoted than the Arabs, and that their women have more domestic influence, and are sometimes even allowed to inherit. Our experience of the race was not fortunate, as the Beni Mtír robbers who attacked our camp at Mikkès, and the Zemmúr who hunted us out of their country, were essentially of aboriginal or Berber extraction.

The history of the Arabs in Marocco, who are _par excellence_ dwellers in the plains, living in tents which they shift about at will, is of more recent date. When the great wave of Mussulman invasion came rolling westward in the end of the seventh century, the whole of this country was quickly overrun, and only that part of the aboriginal inhabitants which lived in the mountains remained unconquered; flying to their fastnesses in the hills, their pursuers were unable to follow them, and they now represent the remnant of the above-mentioned Brebber people. The Christianity introduced by the Romans at the close of their first occupation (about A.D. 430) was stamped out by the Arabs, since which time the country—correctly described as “the most religious in the world”—has remained, and is likely to remain, purely Mussulman. I fancy, however, that a Moor of the present day would as soon believe that Christianity was the religion of his country fourteen hundred years ago, as that the balloons and trains of Europe are really existent facts. Another great influx of Arabs occurred on their expulsion from Spain at the conquest of Granada in 1492. For seven centuries they had governed that vast province with vigour and success; and it is a known fact that in many families here are preserved the title-deeds of their Spanish possessions, to which the owners hope that some day they or their descendants may possibly return.

Another distinctive family is that of the Bokhári,[90] or black bondsmen of the Sultan, who, though only introduced two hundred years ago, form with their families a by no means unimportant part of the population. Some good specimens of these colonists are to be seen in the picture of the group of soldiers in the Sultan’s garden at Fez (opp. p. 103). The term Moor, though, of course, derived from the Maurusii and Mauri mentioned by Strabo and Pliny, seems to be generally applied now-a-days to all the three races above described, with perhaps a more special reference to the fusion of the three, which is found chiefly among the inhabitants of the towns. It is curious that, besides being able to trace the word Moor to such an early source, distinct equivalents exist in the Arabic of to-day for the names of several tribes mentioned by writers at the beginning of the Christian era. Of all these various ingredients of the population of Marocco, I think the Berber element the fairest-complexioned and best-looking, the Bokhári, the biggest-limbed and most powerful, while the Arab of the plain—of whom the Beni Hassan are an excellent type—is the most wiry and enduring-looking of the lot.

Of the Jew, as a factor in the population of this country, it is unnecessary to treat, as intermarriage between them and their Mussulman fellow-subjects is too rare to admit of its affecting in any way the national type. To the goodwill and sterling qualities of the two excellent representatives of this chosen people with whom we have been daily brought in contact, I have already borne a willing testimony, and I trust that, should my diary ever come into their hands, they will not take umbrage at the occasional substitution of their actual names for those of their prototypes in modern English literature.

In addition to the measures mentioned on p. 224 as about to be put in force, the other political results of the Mission (as I learned from a garrulous Court official at Fez), are the Revision of the Convention of Commerce and Navigation of 1856 between Great Britain and Marocco, and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Sultans of Turkey and of this country; though how the conflicting claims of each of these potentates to be the head of the Mussulman religion are to be got over is not at present apparent. As soon, too, as sufficient money is forthcoming, the mole at Mogador is to be extended, and the ruins of the one here put in sufficient repair to facilitate the passage of boats to and from the ships. A better supply of water also is guaranteed for the town of Tangier, between which place and Gibraltar heliographic communication (under the auspices, I hope, on this side, of Síd Drís ben Abd-el-Wáhad) is to be established.