populous place with some trade; Azamor, a healthy town, but ill adapted to trade; El Woladia, a spacious harbour, the entrance to which ought to be improved; Saffy, an unhealthy place in a confined situation. The next harbour is that of Mogodor, a town subsisting entirely by commerce, and built with more regularity than any other place in the Empire. It is fortified, and capable of making considerable resistance either on the land or the sea-side. The houses being all of stone, and white, the town has a beautiful appearance from a distance. It is the principal commercial port of the Moors on the Atlantic, and the only one which maintains a regular intercourse with Europe. To the southward of Mogodor is Agadeer, or Santa Cruz, the last port in the Emperor's dominions, with a safe and capacious roadstead. It might be a place of great trade with the interior of Africa, were it not a part of the tyrannical policy of the government of Marocco to discourage this town, on account of its distance from their influence. Beyond Santa Cruz, says Mr. Jackson, we find no port that is frequented by shipping, but a tract of coast which holds out great encouragement to commercial enterprize, and on which secure establishments might be effected.

National Manners.-The inhabitants of the Empire of Marocco may be divided into four classes, Moors, Arabs, Berebbers, and Shelluhs. They are thus described by Mr. Jackson:

The Moors are the descendants of those who were driven out of Spain; they inhabit the cities of Marocco, Fas, Mequinas, and all the coast towns, as far southward as the province of Haha. Their language is a corrupt Arabic intermixed with Spanish.

The Arabs have their original stock in Sahara, from whence they emigrate to the plains of Marocco, whenever the plague, farine, or any other calamity depopulates the country so as to admit of a new colony, without injuring the territory of the former inhabitants. These Arabs live in tents, and speak the language of the Koran, somewhat corrupted. They are a restless and turbulent people, con tinually at war with each other: in one province a rebellious kabyle, or clan, will fight against a neighbouring loyal one, and will thus plunder and destroy one another, till, fatigued by the toils of war, they mutually cease, when, the next year perhaps, the rebellious clan will be found fighting for the Emperor against the former loyal one, now become rebellious. This plan of setting one tribe against another is an act of policy of the Emperor, because if he did not, ia this manner, quell the broils continually breaking out amongst them, he would be compelled, in order to preserve tranquillity in his domi nions, to employ his own army for that purpose, which is generally occupied in more important business.

The Berebbers inhabit the mountains of Atlas north of the city of Marocco, living generally in tents; they are a robust, nervous people, having a language peculiar to themselves, which differs more from

the

the Arabic, or general language of Africa, than any two languages of Europe differ from each other; it is probably a dialect of the ancient Carthaginian. In travelling through the Berebber Kabyles of Ait Imure, and Zemure Shelluh, I noticed many who possessed the old Roman physiognomy. The general occupation of these people is husbandry, and the rearing of bees for honey and wax.

The Shellubs inhabit the Atlas mountains, and their various branches south of Marocco; they live generally in towns, and are, for the most part, occupied in husbandry like the Berebbers, though differing from them in their language, dress, and manners; they live almost entirely on (Assoua) barley-meal made into gruel, and barley roasted or granulated, which they mix with cold water, when travelling this is called Zimeta. They occasionally indulge in cuscasoe, a nutritive farinaceous food, made of granulated flour, and afterwards boiled by steam, and mixed with butter, mutton, fowls, and vegetables. Many families among these people are reported to be descended from the Portuguese, who formerly possessed all the ports on the coast; but who, after the discovery of America, gradually withdrew thither.'

:

• The Moorish dress resembles that of the ancient patriarchs, as represented in paintings; that of the men consists of a red cap and turban, a (Kumja) shirt, which hangs outside of the drawers, and comes down below the knee, a (Caftan) coat, which buttons close before, and down to the bottom, with large open sleeves; over which, when they go out of doors, they throw carelessly, and sometimes elegantly, a hayk or garment of white cotton, silk, or wool, five or six yards long, and five feet wide: the Arabs often dispense with the caftan, and even with the shirt, wearing nothing but the hayk.'

The people of this empire being born subjects of an arbitrary despot, they may be said to have no established laws; they know no other than the will of the prince, and if this should deviate, as it sometimes does, from the moral principles laid down in the Koran, it must be obeyed. Where the Emperor resides, he administers justice, in person, generally twice, and sometimes four times a week, in the (M'shoire) place of audience, whither all complaints are carried: here access is easy; he listens to every one, foreigners or subjects, men or women, rich or poor; there is no distinction, every one has a right to appear before him, and boldly to explain the nature of his case; and although his person is considered as sacred, and established custom obliges the subject to prostrate himself and to pay him rather adoration than respect, yet every complainant may tell his story without the least hesitation or timidity; indeed, it any one is abashed, or appears diffident, his cause is weakened in proportion. Judgment is always prompt, decisive, plausible, and generally cor.

rect.'

Whatever may be the kind of justice thus administered to those who have little to lose, it is clear that a tribunal, in which the will of the judge forms the law, must be replete with danger to those whose property is an object of temptation. Accordingly, the Emperor exercises an absolute despotism over his

Bashaws and Alkaids, who in their turn domineer with equal rapacity over his subjects at large; and when they learn, by means of their spies, that an individual has acquired considerable property, they contrive a cause of accusation for the purpose of extorting money from him. Such a mode of government is fatal to all virtue among the people. It renders them suspicious, deceitful, and cruel; strangers to every social tie, and even to the affections of kindred; the father distrusting the son, and the son fearing the father. The vices of sensuality are carried to a great excess among them; and so far are they from having any consciousness of their degradation and ignorance, compared with other nations, that they consider themselves as the first people in the world, and contemptuously term all others barbarians. Happily, however, exceptions to this general character may be found, many individuals giving evidence of feelings above the ordinary level of their countrymen; and fortitude under adversity is a characteristic possessed by this nation in a high degree. The Moor may be said never to despair; no bodily suffering, no calamity, makes him complain; he is resigned in all things to the will of God, and waits in patient hope for an amelioration of his condition.

Hereditary distinctions are unknown among the Moors; by birth they are all equal; and they admit no difference of rank except such as is derived from official employments, on the resignation of which the occupant mixes again with the common class of citizens.—Mr. Jackson thus represents their domestic manners :

The Moors are, for the most part, more cleanly in their persons, than in their garments. They wash their hands before every meal, which, as they use no knives or forks, they eat with their fingers: half a dozen persons sit round a large bowl of cuscasoe, and, after the usual ejaculation (Bismillah) "In the name of God!" each person puts his hand to the bowl, and taking up the food, puts it by a dexterous jerk, into his mouth, without suffering his fingers to touch the lips. However repugnant this may be to our ideas of cleanliness, yet the hand being always washed, and never touching the mouth in the act of eating, these people are by no means so dirty as Europeans have sometimes hastily imagined. They have no chairs or tables in their houses, but sit cross-legged on carpets and cushions; and at meals, the dish or bowl of provisions is placed on the floor.

The women are not less cleanly than the men; for besides performing the usual ablutions before and after meals, they wash their face, hands, arms, legs, and feet, two or three times a day, which contributes greatly to heighten their beauty. The poorer classes, however, look deplorable, and excite disgust. The faces of the old women appear shrivelled, from the immoderate use of cosmetics and paint during their youth.'

• When

When a Mooselmin is inclined to marry, he makes enquiry of some confidential servant respecting the person of her mistress, and if he receives a satisfactory description of the lady, an opportunity is sometimes procured to see her at a window, or other place; this interview generally determines whether the parties are to continue their regards; if the suitor be satisfied with the lady, he seeks an occasion of communicating his passion to the father, and proposes to marry his daughter. The father's consent being obtained, he sends presents to the lady, according to his circumstances, which being accepted, the parties are supposed to be betrothed, and marriage follows.'

--

It is not expected that the woman should have a fortune, or a settlement; but if the father be rich, he generally gives a dowry to his daughter, and a quantity of pearls, rubies, diamonds, &c. The dowry remains the property of the female, and in case of a separation, by consent of the husband, is returned to her: these separations proceed from various causes, as barrenness, the disappointment of expectation, or incompatability of disposition. Separation, however, not originating in the above causes, is reprobated as immoral and disreputable.'

Language. The Arabic is, in the opinion of the Mohammedans, the most eloquent of languages, and is spoken perhaps by a greater proportion of the inhabitants of the world than any other. In traversing the African continent, whether from North to South or from East to West, persons are every where to be found, at least in the great cities, who are acquainted with Arabic. In Turkey, Syria, Persia, and India, it is understood by many of the well-educated classes; and a knowlege of the Koran-Arabic leads speedily to an acquaintance with its other dialects, as well as with the Hindoostanee, Europeans experience considerable difficulty in acquiring Arabic, from the difference between its sounds and those of their own tongue, but especially from their not learning, while studying it, the peculiar distinctions of the synonimous letters. Sir William Jones, accurately as he knew the language from books, was not able to converse intelligibly with a native Arab; a circumstance of which he was not conscious till he went to India. An European gentleman who had been many years in Marocco, and accounted himself an Arabic scholar, pronounced the synonimous letters so inaccurately, that an Arab, after having listened one day to a long address from him, exclaimed, "I entreat thee to speak Arabic that I may understand thee." Elfi Bey is said to have declared that he had found only one European whose Arabic he could easily comprehend. Mr. Jackson thinks that, if the present ardour for African discovery should continue, the learned world may expect to recover a part of the lost works of Greece and Rome, in Arabic translations made when Arabian literature was in its zenith,

O 3

́zenith, and confined since that time to libraries in the interior of Africa, as well as in Arabia.

Our intercourse with Marocco has been greatly impeded by the imperfect degree in which our Envoys possessed the language. What expectations can be entertained of success, in a negotiation conducted through the medium of an illiterate interpreter, who is generally a Jew, and a devoted subject of the Emperor? Such men are most unfit depositaries of national secrets, and dare not on pain of death take the freedom of using to the Emperor many expressions which are essential to the conclusion of a treaty. In consequence of this ignorance of the respective languages of the negociating parties, treaties have been made between Great Britain and Marocco without being understood on either part; and, on our side, without being translated till several months after their conclusion. Mr. Jackson relates (page 218), that the Emperor of Marocco, being desirous to open a direct communication with the British Court, addressed a letter in Arabic to our Sovereign, which remained unanswered during a great length of time, on account of the language not being intelligible. It had been sent to one or both of our Universities, but in vain; the difference of punctuation preventing it from being translated, till it happened to fall into Mr. Jackson's hands.

Shipwrecks, and fate of the captives-Our feelings are so much interested by the information afforded by Mr. Jackson on this topic, that we are desirous to make it as generally known as our pages can render it. That part of the west coast of Africa, which lies between the 32d and the 20th degree of latitude, is a desert country, interspersed with immense hills of loose sand, which is often blown about in such a manner as to create the appearance of a hazy atmosphere, without giving any notice of the vicinity of land; the water also is so shallow, that ships often strike when at a great distance from the beach; and a current sets in from the west towards the coast with great rapidity, with which the navigator is generally unacquainted: he therefore loses his reckoning, and finds his ship aground. The consequence is a surrender to the Arabs, who, attracted by the wreck, come down on the coast; and the captives are forthwith stripped and marched, barefooted, up the country. Their feet, unaccustomed to the burning sand, soon begin to swell: but the Arab, himself abstemious and unexhausted, has no sympathy with his prisoner. These people are in the habit of going fifty miles in a day without tasting food, and are contented at night with a little barley-meal mixed with cold water. The seamen