It may have been the great object of
the life of the present Sultan to restore this enormous hoard. No
country is rich or safe without a vast capital in hand as a reserve for
times of trouble, war, or famine. But it is not necessary that such
reserve should be in the hands of a government.
This, a Maroquine prince cannot comprehend, and he decides as to the
riches and poverty of his country by the amount he possesses in his
royal vaults.
In treating of trade, and comparing its exports with the peculiar
products and manufactures of the cities and towns, hereafter to be
enumerated, we may approximate to an idea of the resources of the
Maroquine Empire, but everything is more or less deteriorated in this
naturally rich country.
Cattle and sheep, grain and fruits, are of inferior quality, owing to
the want of proper culture. No spontaneous growth is equal to culture,
for such is the ordinance of Divine Providence. Half of this country is
desert. The iron hand of despotic government presses heavily upon all
industry. If we add to this defective state of culture, the miserably
moral condition of the people, we have the unpleasant picture of an
inferiority civilized race of mankind scattered over a badly cultivated
region.
