However, I find since the murder of Mr. Davidson, both the people and government of Morocco have got a bad name in Gibraltar; and opinion begins to prevail that it is almost impossible for an Englishman to travel in the country.  Mr. Frenerry recommends that a Moor should be treated not proudly, but with a certain degree of firmness, to shew him you will not be trifled with.  In this way, he says, you will always continue friends.

With regard to the present Emperor, Mr. Frenerry is a great apologist of his system.

“The Emperor is obliged to exclude foreigners as much as possible from his country.  He does not want to tempt the cupidity of Europeans, by showing them the resources of the empire.  They are prying about for mines of iron and silver.  He is obliged to forbid these geological wanderings.  The subjects of his empire are divided in their feelings and interests, and have been driven there by every wave of human revolutions.  The Emperor does not wish to discover his weakness abroad, by letting Europeans witness the bad faith and disloyalty of his heterogeneous tribes.  The European consuls are much to blame; they always carry their heads too high, if not insolently.  They then appoint Jewish consuls along the coast, a class of men whom the hereditary prejudices of his Mussulman subjects will not respect.”

There is certainly something, if not a good deal, to be said for the emperor as well as against him.  I was obliged to wait some time at Gibraltar before I could get a vessel for Mogador.  I missed one excellent opportunity from the want of a note from the Gibraltar government.  A Moor offered to allow me to take a passage without any expense in his vessel, provided I could obtain a note from our government; but the Governor of Gibraltar required an introduction in form, and, before I could receive a letter from Mr. Hay to present to him, the vessel left for Mogador.  I therefore lost money and time without any necessity.

CHAPTER IV.

Departure from Gibraltar to Mogador.—­The Straits.—­Genoese Sailors.—­ Trade-wind Hurricanes en the Atlantic Coast of Morocco.—­Difficulties of entering the Port of Mogador.—­Bad provisioning of Foreign Merchantmen.—­The present Representative of the once far-famed and dreaded Rovers.—­Disembarkation at Mogador.—­Mr. Phillips, Captain of the Port—­Rumours amongst the People about my Mission.—­Visit to the Cemeteries.—­Maroquine Wreckers.—­Health of the inhabitants of Mogador.—­Moorish Cavaliers “playing at powder” composed of the ancient Nuraidians.—­The Barb.—­The Life Guards of the Moorish Emperor.—­Martial character of the Negro.—­Some account of the Black Corps of the Shereefs.—­Orthodoxy of the Shereefs, and illustrative anecdotes of the various Emperors.

On leaving the Straits (commonly called “The Gut,”) a noble sight presented itself—­a fleet of some hundred merchantmen, all smacking about before the rising wind, crowding every sail, lest it should change ere they got clear of the obstructive straits.  Many weeks had they been detained by the westerly gales, and our vessel amongst the rest.  I felt the poignant misery of “waiting for the wind.”  I know nothing so wearisome when all things are made ready.  It is worse than hope deferred, which sickens and saddens the heart.